The future is Indian: so wake up, Whitehall - Comment - Times Online

The future is Indian: so wake up, Whitehall - Comment - Times Online

But I believe the opportunities in India may be even greater. We share a common language and a shared history — what one Indian pharmaceutical company described to me as “cultural comfort”. Two per cent of our own population is of Indian descent, and 20,000 Indian students study in Britain each year. We are two service-orientated economies whose skills fit neatly together.

Above all, we need to get rid of the patronising assumption that the only thing India has to offer is a giant back office. I have met here Indian companies who have bought pharmaceutical factories in Huddersfield, opened call centres in Northern Ireland and, in the case of Tata Consultancy Services, have UK operations that employ more than 7,000 people. Yet many tell me that the British Government, unlike our competitors, still does not see this as a partnership of equals. If Britain is to compete in the new global economy, it is time to think again.