APPENDIX
DIRECTOR'S REPORT
INTRODUCTION
2006-07 has been a very significant year for
the IBPN.
In June 2006 the House of Commons Trade and
Industry Committee report on India confirmed the Government's
recognition of the IBPN as the UK's lead body in promoting and
developing Indo-British trade relations and recommended that IBPN
should be, "the de facto Indo-British Chamber of Commerce".
In October 2006, Lord Bilimoria, Chairman IBPN,
chaired the UK-India Prime Ministerial summit that for the first
time brought together top tiers of Government, business and partner
organisations to develop further the countries' two-way investment
relationship.
In November 2006 the Board met for its first
ever "away day" to discuss a strategy to take the IBPN
forward. A business plan was produced as a result of this meeting
and a funding application was made to increase the funding that
IBPN receives.
In January 2007 we were delighted when the former
Chancellor, Gordon Brown, announced that the Government intended
to boost its annual funding of the IBPN to £1 million, a
significant increase on its previous level of £75,000. It
is intended that government funding will be matched by private
sector sponsorship, membership fees and the provision of charged
services.
Another key achievement this year has been that
FICCI and CII have come together on the IBP board in India allowing
us to engage with a cross section of industry in India.
BUSINESS REVIEW
AND PRINCIPAL
ACTIVITIES
Board
The IBPN board is made up of 21 members and
has been formed comprising of representatives from leading UK
companies from the fields of finance, healthcare, accountancy,
business and legal services, tourism, the creative industries,
education and other affiliated organisations including the Confederation
of British Industry (CBI), International Business Link and the
Commonwealth Business Council (CBC).
Representatives of UK Trade & Investment,
the Indian High Commission, the Confederation of Indian Industries,
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, British
Chambers of Commerce, Lord Mayors's Office and the Mayor's Office
also attend selected board meetings as observers.
Secretariat
Asia House have continued to manage the Secretariat
of the IBPN. The Chief Executive, Stefan Kosciuszko (supported
by Programme Manager Abha Thorat and Programme Assistant Saeqah
Kabir) manage the secretariat including the organisation of events,
contribution to policy papers, management of the website and membership
activities. The Secretariat works in close cooperation with the
South Asia Unit at UKTI.
Membership
IBPN membership is thoroughly inclusive and
currently offered for free regardless of size and industry, all
British based and Indian companies, entrepreneurs and individuals
who are interested in trade, business and investment between the
UK and India are eligible for membership.
In its second year of operation the IBPN has
over 700 members via the efforts of the secretariat, the Board
and the portal. Membership interest now comes from varied sources
including creative industries, banks, law firms, SMEs and Indian
companies visiting to do business in the UK.
Events and Activities
The IBPN secretariat organizes a board meeting
bi-monthly with visiting expert speakers. These meetings have
been held at Asia House, the London Stock Exchange, the Foreign
& Commonwealth Office, BNP Paribas, Olswang, Mansion House
and the DTI/UKTI offices. This year we have had presentations
and briefings from
— The Lord Mayor, Sir David Brewer
and his accompanying business delegation on their official visit
to India (April 2006)
— Mr Marios Maratheftis, Economist
from Standard Chartered Bank on the overall economic trends in
the world and their effect on India in particular. (June 2006)
— Mr John Dunsmure, Managing Director,
British Chambers of Commerce Enterprises Ltd on BCC's plans for
India. (August 2006)
— Mr Sonjoy Chatterjee, MD& CEO
ICICI Bank London on the growth of ICICI Bank in the UK and his
role as Chairman of the "India Group" a private sector
alliance of India's largest corporates in UK and Europe. (October
2006)
— Rt Hon Richard Caborn, MP, Minister
for Sport on his trip to India (December 2006)
— Mr Jitesh Gadhia, Managing Director,
ABN Amro Bank on the Tata Corus Transaction (Feb 2007)
— Sir Brian Bender, Permanent Secretary
at the Department of Trade & Industry on DTI and their support
for the IBPN (March 2007)
— Ms Kirsten Bound of the think-tank
DEMOS on the "Atlas of Ideas" -an 18-month study of
science and innovation in China, India and South Korea, with a
focus on new opportunities for collaboration with the UK and Europe.
(April 2007)
— Mr Ian McCartney, MP Minister of
State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs on his trip to
India and UKTI's support for the IBPN (April 2007)
— Mr Philip Bouverat, Director, JCB
on their India operations (June 2007)
The secretariat has also organised a number
of high profile events in the last year, including:
— IBPN and ASSOCHAM round table meeting
at Asia House, 19 May 2006.
— Luncheon with the Indian Minister
for Communications & Information Technology, Mr Dayanidhi
Maran, 14 July 2006. This event was sponsored by Bharti Group.
— IBP/IBPN Round Table Meeting at Lancaster
House, 27 June 2006.
— UK-Gujarat Round Table with a visiting
delegation of business leaders from Gujarat in association with
FICCI, 6 October 2006. This event was sponsored by BG Group.
— Lord Bilimoria, Chairman IBPN chaired
the India—UK Investment Summit, 10 October 2006 in which
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Dr. Manmohan Singh participated.
— Round Table with the Chief Minister
of Haryana Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda and meetings with CII business
delegation, 16 October 2006. This event was sponsored by JCB.
— Luncheon with Deputy Chairman of
the Planning Commission, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, 31 October
2006. This event was sponsored by UBS Investment Bank.
— CEOs luncheon with Indian Finance
Minister, P. Chidambaram, 29 January 2007. This event was sponsored
by Goldman Sachs.
— Networking session for Confederation
of Indian Industry's (CII)'s Information Technology/ Information
Technology Enabled Services (BPO) SME delegation in association
with TiE UK, 16 March 2007.
— Luncheon meeting with Indian Minister
for Commerce and Industry, Mr. Kamal Nath, 4 May 2007.
— Business Forum with Mr Shivraj Singh
Chouhan, Honourable Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, 11 May 2007.
— Luncheon with an Indian Business
Leader (Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways) and focus on Aviation, 16
May 2007.
— IIFA FICCI Global Business Forum
and dinner, 7 June 2007 held during the IIFA Weekend in Leeds.
— FICCI IBPN Networking Breakfast,
8 June 2007.
— Briefing for IBPN Members on the
latest BRICs report by Goldman Sachs Managing Director and Head
of Global Economic Research, Jim O Neill and Chief India Economist,
Tushar Poddar, 15 June 2007.
IBPN has also supported a number of other events
including "India Calling" in association with the Indian
Merchants Chamber (October 2006), and "Doing Business with
India" seminar organised by Economist Conferences (Feb 2007).
IBPN continues to work in partnership with government
and industry, including the Confederation of British Industry
(CBI), British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI), The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry
of India (ASSOCHAM), Commonwealth Business Council (CBC), Lord
Mayor's Office and the Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC), to deliver
the agenda of increasing trade, business and investment between
Britain and India both ways.
The IBPN works closely and interacts on a regular
basis with the Indian High Commission in the UK and the British
High Commission in India. The IBPN also continues to support senior
visitors to India, the Lord Mayor Alderman John Stuttard, South
East England Development Authority (SEEDA) and Baroness Ashton,
Minister, Department for Constitutional Affairs. The IBPN was
also represented by a Board Director (Graham Ward) accompanying
the Lord Mayor as part of his official business delegation.
The IBPN was very proud in June 2006 when its
chairman, Karan Bilimoria, was appointed to the House of Lords
as one of seven figures recommended to be non-party political
peers. Lord Bilimoria continues to be a member the UK-India Round
Table and Chancellor Gordon Brown's Asia Task Force.
JETCO
The JETCO process given its business focus remains
integral to the IBPN agenda. Working Groups have been established
under JETCO that are business driven and perform an important
function under the overall JETCO process, namely that of identifying
opportunities for enhanced cooperation in the key areas of agri-business,
healthcare, high-technology, infrastructure, legal services, accountancy,
financial services and intellectual property rights. Following
Board members are members/chairs of these working groups:
— Graham Ward: Chair, Accountancy Task
Force and Member of the Financial Services Group
— Ken Hunt: Member of the Agribusiness
Group
— Chris Francis: Member of the Healthcare
Group
— Julian Stretch: Chair of the Hi-tech
Group
— Martin Harman: Member of the Infrastructure
Group
IBPN's Chairman led the largest ever 150 strong
senior UK business delegation drawn from a number of industry
sectors to accompany Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for
Trade and Industry, to India in January 2007 to attend JETCO,
Ministerial and business meetings in Delhi and Mumbai and the
CII Summit in Bangalore. In April 2007 the IBPN Secretariat brought
together, for the first time, all UK chairs/co-ordinators of JETCO
working groups to share best practice and common issues between
groups and look for synergies and linkages into the IBPN. The
IBPN continues to work with the JETCO Groups and UKT&I to
meet their objectives and pursue common goals.
Website
The website portal continues to be a primary
source of new membership and information dissemination. New features
were added in the course of the year to make it an effective PR
tool for the growth of the IBPN and its membership, be the one
stop shop for companies wishing to engage with India, provide
news/event listings and more comprehensive information and serve
as an enhanced networking tool for members. In the last twelve
months (April 2006-March 2007) 700,000 hits were made to the website
and this level of interest has continued.
FUTURE PROSPECTS
The IBPN is currently in the process of re-branding.
It has also hired its first Chief Executive and will be restructuring
its board and moving to its own offices that have already been
obtained.
The IBPN will provide business advisory services
for all British companies wishing to trade with India and for
Indian companies wishing to invest in the UK. It will continue
to contribute to policy formation at the highest level and to
the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) process.
The IBPN will also continue to operate as a
membership organisation for companies, organisations and individuals
interested in working with India, by organising events and delegations
to take the Indo-British relationship forward. It will raise private
sector funding from sponsorships, membership fees and provision
of services.
Its regional representatives will work alongside
UKT&I officials in the regions and in India alongside officials
of the UK High Commission there.
IBPN BOARD
CHAIRMAN
Lord Bilimoria CBE, DL, Chairman of Cobra Beer
BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
— The Hon Apurv Bagri, Managing Director,
Metdist
— Mrs Sandra Brusby OBE, Chief Executive
Officer, Link International Business Solutions
— Mr Gautam Dalal, Partner, KPMG
— Mr Chris Francis, CEO, Cardionetics
— Mr Anthony Good, Chariman, Cox &
Kings
— Mr Martin Graham, Director of Markets,
London Stock Exchange
— Mr Toby Greenbury, Partner, Mishcon
de Reya
— Mr Martin Harman, Chariman, Pinsent
Masons
— Mr Barry Humphreys, Director of External
Affairs & Route Developmen, Virgin Atlantic
— Ken Hunt OBE, Business Advisor, IBPN
— Dr Mohan Kaul, Chief Executive, Commonwealth
Business Council
— Mr Richard Meddings, Group Finance
Director, Standard Chartered plc
— Mr Alpesh Patel, Managing Director,
Agile Partners Asset Management Limited
— Mr Andy Scott, Director, International
and UK Operations, Confederation of British Industry
— Mr Julian P Stretch OBE, Business
Advisor, IBPN
— Ms Judith Unwin OBE, Head UK and
Nordic Export Finance, BNP Paribas
— Ms Parminder Vir OBE, Business Development
Director, Ingenious Media Investments Ltd
— Dr Shai Vyakarnam, Director, Centre
for Entrepreneurial Learning, University of Cambridge
— Mr Graham Ward CBE, Senior Partner,
Global Energy & Utilities, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
— Mr Richard Wolff, Director—International
and UK Outlet, Marks & Spencer
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