In six weeks’ time, I will leave Gujarat after four years as the first British Deputy High Commissioner to Gujarat and Rajasthan. The UK is the only country to have a diplomatic office in Gujarat. We are here because Gujarat is important to the UK. It is important to us politically. It is important to us economically. And, with about 800,000 people in the UK of Gujarati origin, it is important to us culturally, socially and spiritually. This year, my office will be expanding again with new staff to deliver even more trade and investment successes in sectors such as energy, life sciences, pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
The British government now has 10 offices in India and we employ almost a thousand people in our network. We have more staff and more offices in India than in any other single country anywhere in the world, including the US and China. That is how important the British government views its relationship with India.
In Gujarat, we focus on promoting trade and investment and on developing what Prime Minister Modi refers to as the “Living Bridge” between India and the UK. I am pleased to say that we are making excellent progress on both.
Last year, we were given a target by London to deliver £16m in new export wins from the UK to Gujarat. We delivered just over £300m. The macroeconomic picture is just as encouraging. Bilateral trade between the UK and India is strong and ever-growing, up 19% to £19bn in 2017/18. UK exports to India grew by 32% in 2017/18, totalling £7.6bn, and registering their fourth successive quarter of double-digit growth. The 800 UK-owned companies active in India create 1 in every 20 jobs in India’s organised sector, employ over 800,000 people, turn over £80bn and make £10bn in profits, most of which are retained in India. Since 2010 the UK has been the largest G20 investor in India. India invests more in the UK than it does in the rest of the EU combined and is now the UK’s fourth largest investment source, creating 5,649 new jobs in the last year alone. There are 800 Indian companies in the UK employing nearly 110,000 people - over 30,000 in the digital and tech economy. And London is of course the global home of capital. Over the past two years, Indian issuers have raised over £6.5bn on the London Stock Exchange through Masala, dollar and green bonds.
The “Living Bridge” between the UK and India – a term first used Prime Minister Modi - refers to the flow of people, ideas and culture between our two nations. It is a series of partnerships on mutual challenges that cumulatively demonstrate why the UK-India relationship is an unbeatable combination. We benefit from a unique living bridge of people, ideas and institutions that sits separate to the government-to-government relationship. No other bilateral relationship can compete with the sheer breadth of UK-India - from political, business, finance, technology, science, medicine, to soft power areas of culture, literature, arts, music, sport and food, nor the sheer historical scope of that relationship. The UK and India have a unique relationship and many common values and we are, of course, the world’s oldest and largest democracies respectively.
We share a commitment to maintaining a rules-based international system – and are working in partnership across the world to promote and defend this. We are working collectively to lead the fight on global challenges such as climate change, sustainable energy, humanitarian disasters and environmental degradation. We are committed partners in the fight to transform lives through research and modern technology. We are both promoting secure, affordable and sustainable supplies of energy and reducing the cost of clean energy through sharing technology innovation and capacity building programmes. And we are both trying to improve the lives of girls and women in areas such as capacity building for marginalised women, enhancing women’s legal rights and in combating sex trafficking, child labour and bonded labour.
Contrary to some media reports, our visa system is working. More than half a million UK visas were issued to Indians in the last 12 months. 9 out of 10 Indian applications are granted – above the global average. In the last year the UK granted almost 15,400 Tier 4 student visas – a 32% increase on the previous year. This is the third successive year that student visa numbers have increased. Indian nationals receive more Tier 2 employment visas than the rest of the world combined. Over 60,000 work visas were issued last year. 99% of Indian applications receive their visas within our 15 day service standard though our wide network of visa application centres across India. We enjoy a constructive relationship on home affairs and agree that those accused of crimes must not be able to escape justice by crossing national borders. And we both recognise and respect the independent role of the judiciary.
India is a great country. The UK is a great country. When we work together, we can do great things. Although I will be leaving India in January, that great work will continue through my successor, Peter Cook, who will arrive in Gujarat in mid-January. I will be sad to go. I will miss masala chai, dhokla and khichdi. I will miss Navratri and Uttarayan. I will miss the Great Rann, the Gir lions, the world heritage city of Ahmedabad, the culture of Baroda, the innovative architecture of Surat and the engineering excellence of Rajkot. But most of all I will miss the genuine and unlimited hospitality of the Gujju who have made my wife and I feel so very, very welcome during our stay here. After 35 years with the Diplomatic Service, I can honestly say that the past 4 years in Gujarat have been the most enjoyable and rewarding of my entire career. I look forward to maintaining my links with the UK’s Gujarati diaspora and cannot wait to return to Gujarat at the earliest opportunity.
