UK-India Trade

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 25th January 2012 Westminster Hall

[Stephen Hammond]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the greatest encouragements to international trade is certainty in the business environment, whether political, legal, accountancy or business ethics. She makes an outstanding point, which is absolutely correct.

I have touched on the financial services industry, and I hope that the Minister will outline what the Government are doing to ensure that pressure is maintained for further liberalisation of the area. There are other industries in which the relationship between the United Kingdom and India is growing and could be pivotal to us if we accept the opportunities. In the telecoms world, the UK has traditionally enjoyed, and still does, a competitive advantage over many countries in Europe and the world. It has been a leader in the development of mobile and tele-optic fibre technology and policy.

India suffers from a highly fragmented mobile technology market and might benefit if it were slightly less fragmented, but it is undeniably true that the market is dynamic. In one of the past six months, 18 million new mobile connections were made, and there is significant demand from the Government for the enhancement and expansion of broadband and some machine solutions to manage logistics. There is an opportunity for the UK telecoms industry, and it could become pivotal to our future.

The same is true of the higher education sector. One of the last high commissioners, His Excellency Nalin Surie, expressed disappointment that the UK had failed to grasp the opportunities that India thought that it was opening up to UK academic institutions and at its inability to open faculties in India. At last, over the past two or three years, there has been reversal of that. There are immense opportunities for new faculties and collaboration on high tech and pharmaceuticals, particularly in some areas of post-doctoral research. The UK higher education sector would do well to grab them.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Member on bringing this debate to the Chamber. He referred to education and the adoption of cultural links. In my constituency, Orange district lodge No. 4 has been actively involved in raising money to build a school for orphan children and for their health. Comber rotary club has been raising money for polio vaccination. Business opportunities come through health links, church links and human rights links. Does the hon. Gentleman believe that such links are overlooked by the Government and should be encouraged?

[Stephen Hammond]

I agree entirely that there are huge opportunities outside the industries that I am talking about. Owing to pressure of time, I shall conclude my comments in the near future, but I am sure that colleagues will want to talk about opportunities and other industries. The hon. Gentleman is correct. I had the opportunity of seeing one of the major Indian health care providers and what it is offering to the UK. There is collaboration with UK pharmaceutical firms on drugs to the Indian generic market. There are huge opportunities.

The Indian economy will grow less slowly this year than in previous years, but at 9% it will still be one of the fastest growing economies in the world. That will inevitably bring pressure for further infrastructure development. The new five-year plan suggests that it wants $1 trillion added to its infrastructure budget for capacity in power, roads, rail, ports, aviation, housing, office and social infrastructure. The UK has not only civil engineering expertise and project management ability, but acknowledged skill in project finance. I hope that the UK infrastructure industry, in the widest sense, will embrace the opportunity of that size of development.