On 29 March the historic Braintree Town Hall hosted an event to demystify doing business with India hosted by the Haven Gateway Partnership and organised by the Essex Chambers of Commerce and UK India Business Council. Mr Amitabh Jain, Minister (Economic) at the High Commission of India gave an insightful key-note address outlining the opportunities that India represented for UK businesses. Mr Jain and the audience were welcomed to Braintree by Cllr Graham Butland, Leader, and Cllr Janet Money, Chairman of Braintree District Council.

Geoffrey Van Orden MEP recalled the days he spent at Wellington College, a military staff college in Wellington, Tamil Nadu in the South of India, and he then updated the audience on the India – EU Free Trade Agreement which he hoped to see sign before the end of the year, but he also highlighted the fact that other EU countries were more fleet of foot when it came to dealing with India and as a result Belgium had a larger trade with India than the UK.

Over 60 businesses from Essex and Suffolk were spell-bound by the inspiring talk from Claire Sandbrook, Chief Executive of Braintree-headquartered Shergroup Ltd about its experience of setting up an Indian subsidiary in Noida, near New Delhi. Claire had flown back to the UK from India the day before with Neeru Kainth, one of the Senior Auditors at Shergroup India.

Mukesh Rajani, a partner of PwC and Leader of PwC’s India Business Group and an Essex resident, gave an overview of the Indian economy and of the opportunities for UK businesses. Claire joined the panel of experts, chaired by Kevin McCole, Chief Operating Officer of UKIBC, and comprising partners from leading international legal and accountancy firms were on hand to give detailed and technical advice on doing business in India:

• Mukesh Rajani – Partner PwC and Leader of India Business Group (accountancy)
• Mike Duggan – Partner Addleshaw Goddard LLP and Head of India Business Group (law firm)
• Saionton Basu – Penningtons and Co-head of India Group (law firm)
• Steve Toogood – United Kingdom Trade & Investment, based in Essex

Molly Bradford, a student at the University of Essex, an intern of the Tata Internship programme organised by Essex County Council, was on hand during the networking sessions to relate her experiences of the internship which had taken her to Mumbai and Hyderabad.

The businesses that attended covered a wide spectrum from tea importing and frozen yoghurt manufacturing to building supplies and infrastructure companies. Both the Port of Felixstowe and Stansted Airport were represented.

The enthusiasm generated by the meeting led Denise Rossiter, Chief Executive of Essex Chambers of Commerce, to announce that the Essex Chambers would be taking a trade mission to India later this year and a number of the businesses at the event signed up for this mission.

George C Kieffer

Chairman

 Suffolk Broadband Business Survey

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