India and Scotland ramp up regional approach to business ties

This was how Raghav Singhal , head of the UK unit of ICICI Bank, explained what Scottish businesses looking to enter India could expect from one of the country’s biggest banks.

He was part of an Indian delegation at Edinburgh City Chambers last week attending an event fostering business ties between India and Scotland in renewable energy, life sciences, IT and innovation, and whisky. It was organised by India’s Edinburgh consulate, Scottish Enterprise, and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Such gatherings are not unusual. Edinburgh’s consular corps is more active than many realise in fostering bilateral commercial and investment links with Scotland. But there were three things that made this one stand out.

First, its scale. The City Chambers event was one element in a three-day “India-Scotland Business Meet” involving site visits to Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh University’s Roslin Institute and a Grangemouth manufacturing plant operated by India’s Piramal Pharma.

Second, timing. India and the UK have been negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) since 2022. A deal is expected this year. India is looking for an easing of rules allowing its financial services and IT firms to operate in the UK, while Britain hopes for lower tariffs on Scotch whisky.

While India overtook France as the largest export market for whisky by volume last year, it ranked fifth by value, according to the Scotch Whisky Association. That’s because most of what’s sent to India is bulk product for blending and bottling locally. Any lowering of the tariff would not only help overall sales, but could also boost export value by spurring sales of premium-priced single malts.

Siddarth Malik, India’s consul general in Edinburgh, said that with an FTA in view, “we felt this was an opportune time to start to build some momentum for that, to have business people come together at an event in Scotland”.

The third aspect is regionalisation. In an era of de-globalisation and supply chain fragmentation, countries have been refocusing efforts on regions with their own defined market potential.

Within the UK, Scotland fits. “We see quite a lot of Indian businesses operating in London but they’re not that exposed to Scotland,” Mr Malik explained. “So, the idea was to get them to come here and show them what Scotland has to offer.”

The regional focus works the other way. In a report on India-Scotland business ties produced by Grant Thornton, Jyoti Vij, FICCI director general writes of a “regional approach”, highlighting opportunities in individual Indian states.

Microbira, an Edinburgh-based life sciences start-up, is one company making moves. It will soon open a sales office in Bangalore for its AI-based software that identifies the right anti-biotics for combatting anti-microbial resistance.

Meanwhile, talks are under way about launching a direct air link between New Delhi and Edinburgh. As deputy first minister Kate Forbes, who spent part of her childhood in India, told the City Chambers audience: “This marks is a real step change in engagement”.

Jeremy Grant is a freelance writer and was a Financial Times journalist for over 20 years.