The UK India Business Council (UKIBC) is a membership-based,

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

organisation founded in 2007 to foster trade and business relations between the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The organisation works with businesses in both countries, as well as the UK and

n governments, to promote and increase bilateral trade. The UK India Business Council supports UK businesses with the insights, networks, policy advocacy, services, and facilities needed to succeed in India. UKIBC is a sister organisation to the UK-ASEAN Business Council The UK India Business Council is the sole accredited UK Government Overseas Business Network Initiative provider for India. UKIBC is accredited by

British Chambers of Commerce British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and works in partnership with UK Department for Business and Trade.

History

UKIBC has its origins in the Indo British Partnership (IBP) initiative, signed by then Prime Ministers

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

and

P. V. Narasimha Rao Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer, statesman and politician who served as the 9th prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He is known for introducing various liberal reforms to Indi ...

in 1993. In 2005 this evolved into a

private limited company A private limited company is any type of business entity in "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Examples include the '' LLC'' in the United Sta ...

called the 'Indo British Partnership Network (IBPN). With the UKIBC receiving increased investment in 2007 from

UK Trade & Investment , type = Non-ministerial government department , nativename = , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = UKtrade.svg , logo_width = 190px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Department for Business, Enter ...

under direction from then UK Chancellor

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

, Sharon Bamford was appointed CEO to oversee the transition of the organisation.

Organisation and Leadership

The Rt Hon

Patricia Hewitt Patricia Hope Hewitt (born 2 December 1948) is an Australian-born British government adviser and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Health from 2005 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, she previously served as Secretar ...

has been Chair of the UK India Business Council since 2009.

Lord Karan Bilimoria Karan Faridoon Bilimoria, Baron Bilimoria, (born 26 November 1961) is a British Indian businessman, life peer in the UK House of Lords, and a university chancellor. Bilimoria founded the global beer brand, Cobra Beer and is the company's chai ...

, is the founding Chairman of the UK-India Business Council. Lord

Mervyn Davies, Baron Davies of Abersoch Evan Mervyn Davies, Baron Davies of Abersoch, (born 21 November 1952) is a British former banker and was a Labour government minister until May 2010, as Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Small Business. He is currently non-executiv ...

served as the Chair of UK India Business Council in July 2017 until September 2020. Since then, Richard Heald, OBE has taken up the position, stepping up from his role as CEO since 2010. In July 2020, Jayant Krishna,

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continent ...

veteran and former CEO of the

National Skill Development Corporation National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is a not-for-profit public limited company incorporated on July 31, 2008, under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 (corresponding to section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013). NSDC was set up by Min ...

, became the first Indian to be appointed Group CEO of UKIBC. In October 2022, Richard McCallum, previously Vice President of UKIBC in India, was announced as Group CEO. UKIBC deals with major sectors, such as: * Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing * Digital Innovation * Energy * Food and Drink * Financial, Legal and Professional Services * Infrastructure * Life Sciences and Healthcare * Retail, Lifestyle and Logistics * Skills and Education * Sports and gaming

Facilities

Market Entry

UKIBC provides sector-specific research and market entry-related services to help British companies understand the opportunities and make informed choices about their investment.

Membership

Food and Drink, Retail and E-Commerce

UKIBC is mandated by HMG's Department of International Trade to assist in day to day events to include Policy, Market Access, Advocacy, and Trade Promotion for the F&D, Retail, and E-Com sector.

Strategic partners

The UKIBC is partnered with major following companies - *

Standard Chartered Standard Chartered plc is a multinational bank with operations in consumer, corporate and institutional banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retail banking in the UK, and around 9 ...

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

UKIBC PwC
/ref> *

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...

* BT *

Cipla Cipla Limited (stylized as Cipla) is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company, headquartered in Mumbai. Cipla primarily develops medicines to treat respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, diabetes, depression and many oth ...

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...

* Tata *

AgustaWestland AgustaWestland was an Anglo-Italian helicopter design and manufacturing company, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica (now known as Leonardo). It was formed in July 2000 as an Anglo-Italian multinational company, when Finmeccanica ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Maharashtra govt inks MoU on ‘ease of doing biz’ with UKIBC

UK set to invest millions in CSR in India
Economic Times, 2013 Foreign trade of the United Kingdom Business organisations based in the United Kingdom Foreign trade of India India–United Kingdom relations 2007 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2007 International nongovernmental organizations