A discussion on potential projects was held also where representatives from the City of London Corporation, officials from Niti Aayog and other ministries and companies from the UK and India, including foreign companies operating in India participated.
Quoting govt sources, ToI claimed that the participation will be open to global bidding, not nomination. This comes as foreign companies have largely exited India’s road sector, leaving smaller Indian developers to fill the gap.
Chris Hayward, policy chairman of the City of London Corporation, outlined the plan: “We are receiving presentations from Indian partner companies and also from the UK companies. We have got major engineering firms like Mott Macdonald and Arup, which have global companies with huge global experience in infra projects. The plan is, between now and March next year, we are going to identify three projects with Indian govt which are likely to be in the sectors of roads, rapid transit and renewables.”
The partnership will initially focus on identifying three projects by March 2024, with UK firms offering project management expertise. The long-term goal is to attract capital investment from the UK to support India’s sustainable transport strategy. Hayward expressed hopes for a lasting partnership: “Once those are agreed, we will be bringing to the table the expertise that the project management firms can supply. In due course, we expect that to expand to capital investment and capital coming out of London and out of the UK to support PM Modi’s sustainable transport strategy. This is a two-year agreement initially, but we hope that it would blossom into a long-term partnership between London and the Indian govt because the growth in India is so spectacular and so fast that India needs friend and partners to support in delivering infrastructure ambitions.”
Hayward emphasized the need for mutual benefit and acknowledged past challenges for UK firms in India, stating: “One of the challenges of this bridge is that British and other firms have had their fingers burnt. The whole market in India has developed or changed since those days. But, of course, the first thing is confidence building in the British companies that they are not going to get their fingers burnt.” The role of a potential bilateral investment treaty remains under discussion, with Hayward highlighting the need for regulatory certainty and ease of participation for UK businesses. He noted: “There are negotiations still in play. For this to succeed, the Indian govt has to make it as easy as possible for UK businesses to participate. If barriers are put up that are unacceptable, then it will not work. Regulatory certainty is important for everything, the world over.”