NI business delegation look to India

Fourteen local companies will be exploring opportunities for building business in India’s fast growing marketplace on an Invest NI trade mission.

The mission, which runs until November 17, is being led by Dr Diljit Rana, a leading figure in the Indian community in Northern Ireland. His delegation includes a strong IT presence, with five IT businesses including two contact centre operators, Answercall and HCL Technologies.

The delegates also include companies specialising in biotechnology, civil engineering, road construction equipment and consumer goods.

Dr Rana, Managing Director of Andras Properties, was born at Sanghoul in the Punjab and has maintained close links with the region since moving to Northern Ireland in 1966.

Commenting on the mission, he said: “I believe the business opportunities in India for Northern Ireland companies are substantial, particularly in the areas of infrastructural projects, information technology and consumer goods. India is a rapidly developing marketplace with particularly strong links with the United Kingdom. In 2000, for example, UK/India bilateral trade was worth over $8 billion."

Alan Hingston, Invest NI’s Director of Trade Development Services, added that India’s emergence as a major player in the global software industry provided significant scope to local IT companies in developing alliances and technology transfer arrangements that could benefit their business in the South Asia/Asia Pacific region.

He said that Northern Ireland companies could also offer Indian businesses a platform for expansion into Europe, which is soon to become the world’s biggest marketplace.

“Our companies will also benefit from the use of English as the language of business in India and the historic relationship between India and the UK,” he added.

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