Opinion: Six deals to look out for as Indian PM Modi visits Britain

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 15:50:37 +0000

Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, is in the UK from November 12 for a three-day visit. There is pressure on both India and the UK to sign a package of business deals to mark the occasion. ̽��ֱ��pair have a long, shared history, but trade between the two countries ranks low. There are many areas, however, where India’s needs complement the UK’s strengths and we can expect deals to be struck. Here are six areas to watch out for:

1. Defence

There are reports that a large contract will be signed for the sale by BAE Systems to India of up to 20 Hawk trainer aircraft. This deal is likely to involve the actual manufacturing of the aircraft in India, which would fit in nicely with the Modi government’s flagship Make in India programme, designed to provide a much-needed boost to India’s manufacturing sector.

2. Energy

̽��ֱ��UK and India signed an agreement on nuclear energy cooperation in July 2010 but it has been held up by an array of impediments in both countries. Expect announcements amid a concerted effort to reduce bureaucratic hurdles on both sides.

3. Finance and investment

India has a huge need for new ways to bring investment into the country, especially to feed its capital-hungry infrastructure sector. Here, the City of London is expected to be of aid by helping market offshore Indian-rupee bonds, which would in turn help finance railway expansion and housing in India.

Vodafone, one of the UK’s largest companies, has a significant presence in India. While Vodafone may announce further investments during Modi’s visit, it is likely that it will join hands with other UK companies in raising concerns with the Indian PM about various tax disputes they have been embroiled in with successive Indian governments.

4. Skills

Skills is huge area of need in India. Every month for the next decade the country will add one million young people to its workforce. If these young people can be suitably trained and employed they will fuel dramatic growth that could see India become the world’s third largest economy by 2030. ̽��ֱ��UK has significant capabilities in the areas of training plumbers, electricians, carpenters, retail store personnel, and those who work in hospitality and tourism. Importantly, the UK also has many world-leading providers of English language training and assessment.

5. High technology

An important area where India and the UK share significant complimentary strengths is technology – in particular in life sciences, software and, increasingly, hardware. India has vibrant pharmaceutical companies, many of which are making a concerted effort to move into drug discovery and development. ̽��ֱ��UK on the other hand is home to giants such as GSK and AstraZeneca that have an interest in India as a market, a location to conduct clinical trials, and a place to outsource the processing of clinical trials data. Both countries also have a lively biotech sector where further collaboration can be explored.

6. Frugal innovation

India has developed a global reputation for frugal innovation – the ability to develop highly affordable solutions in a whole range of areas from healthcare to energy, automotive to education, computing and software. ̽��ֱ��UK, for its part, especially in the triangle of London, Cambridge and Oxford, is increasingly a global hub for lean start-ups in fintech (finance-related technology), edutech (education-related technology) and medical diagnostics. Modi’s visit might well highlight the potential for collaboration between these clusters of frugal entrepreneurship in the UK and India’s own expertise in these areas. Indeed, some of India’s frugal innovation, in healthcare for instance, could even help bail out an NHS that is increasingly financially constrained.

̽��ֱ��visit of the leader of India, with its huge and rapidly-growing economy, to the UK is bound to bring exciting announcements. Anything of the scale of the billion pound nuclear agreement the UK did with China recently, though, is unlikely. Instead, a number of smaller deals seems a stronger possibility. Indeed, Philip Hammond, the UK’s foreign secretary, has said: “As the Indian economy has a very large and important private sector, many of the deals will be commercial and private sector deals rather than government to government.”

Jaideep Prabhu, Director, Centre for India & Global Business, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

This article was originally published on ̽��ֱ��Conversation. Read the original article.

̽��ֱ��opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author(s) and do not represent the views of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Jaideep Prabhu (Cambridge Judge Business School) discusses the business deals we can expect to be struck as a result of Narendra Modi's visit to the UK.

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̽��ֱ��Prime Minister holds a bilateral with the Indian PM

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Understanding the implications of climate change for business

sc604 — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 08:43:48 +0000

̽��ֱ��series summarises the likely impacts of climate change on agriculture, buildings, cities, defence, employment, energy, investment, fisheries, primary industries, tourism, and transport. It also looks at the capacity of these sectors to adapt to climate change and to reduce emissions.

̽��ֱ��thirteen briefings are based on the Fifth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the official climate science assessment body of the United Nations. They have been compiled by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and Judge Business School, in partnership with the European Climate Foundation and sector-specific organisations.

̽��ֱ��publication of the briefings comes ahead of the UN Climate Change summit in New York on September 23rd, hosted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, which many of the world’s business and political leaders will attend.

Scientists, corporate leaders, military strategists, financial analysts, and sustainability and conservation experts have all hailed the series as a vital resource for companies wanting to plan for the future.

“I applaud this initiative,” said Rajendra K Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC. “Spelling out the implications of climate change for different sectors, on the basis of the work of the IPCC, will allow businesses to adapt to the challenges they face and understand the role they are able to play in reducing their climate impact.”

Among the findings highlighted and explained in the series are:

̽��ֱ��significant impact of climate change on agriculture, including reduced crop yields, and predicted food price rises of 37% (rice), 55% (maize), and 11% (wheat) by 2050
̽��ֱ��potential for more energy efficient buildings to play a big part in reducing emissions
̽��ֱ��particular impact on cities of climate change, and the urgency of acting to protect people in urban areas (predicted to be 64% of the world’s population by 2050)
̽��ֱ��significant potential for the energy sector to reduce emissions, including by switching to lower-carbon fuels, improving energy efficiency, and introducing carbon capture and storage
̽��ֱ��disruptive impacts climate change will have on the stability of the financial system
̽��ֱ��potential for losses to global fisheries of up to $40 billion by 2050
̽��ֱ��way climate change acts as a ‘threat multiplier’, driving involuntary migration and indirectly increasing the risks of violent conflict
̽��ֱ��need for additional energy supply investments of between $190-900 billion per year from now until 2050, in order to meet the 2°C target

“Science on climate change is key for the business community, particularly concerning climate scenarios that we will face in the medium and long term,” said Álvaro Echániz, Chief Executive Officer of Ferrovial FISA. “We cannot understand a long term business strategy without taking into consideration the findings of the IPCC, as a reliable input for identifying the risks and, of course, business opportunities behind those trends.”

“Climate change affects us all, and understanding the science is absolutely vital,” said Polly Courtice, LVO, Director of CISL “This series does a remarkable job of taking the hugely complex and technical findings of the IPCC report and translating them for business.”

A new online resource, which summarises the implications of climate change for specific sectors of the economy, has been produced and made freely available by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

This series does a remarkable job of taking the hugely complex and technical findings of the IPCC report and translating them for business

Polly Courtice

Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership

Implications for Energy

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Opinion: Six deals to look out for as Indian PM Modi visits Britain

Understanding the implications of climate change for business