Indo-England ties get stronger: New Partnership launched

Manchester, February 3: A new Manchester-India Partnership (MIP) aimed at connecting Indian companies with the northern regions of England has been set up to further trade, investment, science and innovation ties between India and Britain.

The public-private initiative between India and Manchester, a core city of what has been termed as the Northern Powerhouse in Britain, is backed by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and will have permanent full-time teams based in Manchester, Delhi, and Bengaluru.

Jim O'Neill, the economist who coined the phrase BRICS in reference to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa as the emerging economies of the world, officially launched the partnership at an event hosted by the Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group on the terrace of the Houses of Parliament. Rona Fairhead, Minister of State in the UK Department for International Trade, said Indian companies can now "make in India but innovate in Manchester", a city she described as the second-largest gateway to the UK for Indian companies.

"Between 2015 and 2035, just the increase in India's working age population will be bigger than the combined working-age populations of the four largest countries in the European Union (EU). If that translates into real economic life, in my judgment, India could easily repeat what China has done in the last 30 years in growing by double digits," O'Neill said, adding that more needs to be done to achieve that double-digit growth.

"India could grow at 12.5 per cent...because of the demographics, India could do some much better. For the Manchester-India Partnership, it means a much bigger opportunity than China because demographics will start slowing down there," he said.

Indian High Commissioner to the UK YK Sinha stressed that India's success story needs more attention by the media worldwide.