London : Top CEOs from India and the UK pitched for a more transparent and consistent decision-making regime as also a uniform treatment of corporates across the world, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to “ceaselessly” work towards Indian economy’s integration with the world.
A reconstituted India-UK CEOs Forum, during its first meeting on Friday, identified six overarching themes as important areas of collaboration to take forward — smart cities and the digital economy, healthcare sector, education and skills, engineering, defence and security, and financial and professional services.
The forum was co-chaired by Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry on the Indian side and Standard Life chairman Sir Gerry Grimstone on the UK side.
The meeting took place in presence of Modi as well as his British counterpart David Cameron.
“We are confidently, consistently and ceaselessly working to integrate our economy with the world,” Modi told the gathering at 11 Downing Street, next door to Cameron’s office in London.
“We have clearly articulated that we will not resort to retrospective taxation and demonstrated this position in a number of ways. This includes not going for imposition of Minimum Alternate Tax on FPIs…We have rationalised the capital gains tax regime for Real Estate Investment Trusts. We have taken several initiatives for transparency and online processing in IP administration,” the Prime Minister added. “A comprehensive National IPR policy is being finalised,” he told the gathering in the heart of London’s financial district.
“The common ask of the industry in both countries is a business environment characterised by simplicity in structures and processes, clarity and transparency in decision-making and uniformity and consistency in the treatment of corporates and people across borders,” said Mistry, who was joined by the likes of Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Tata Consultancy Services CEO & MD N Chandrasekaran and Bharat Forge chairman Baba Kalyani.
“Today’s meeting was a great opportunity to celebrate the success of the UK-India commercial relationship,” said Gerry Grimstone, whose UK team included leading British company representatives like Vodafone chief executive Vitorio Calao, BAE CEO Ian King and Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East.
The UK is the largest G20 investor in India, with 535 UK businesses employing 691,000 people across the country. In the UK, around 800 Indian businesses employ 110,000 people. The forum is backed by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
