India and the United Kingdom will see a surge in their relationship with more business visas, the establishment of technical clusters with focussed commercial interests, and the two Telugu States will have a greater role in that partnership with their ease of doing business rates up on the charts.
The British High Commissioner to India Dominic Asquith, who was on a visit to the city recently, said one of the focussed areas would be leveraging technology to the benefit of both Indian and British companies. Common ambitions and complementary strengths of both India and UK will build up enterprises for mutual benefit.
Hyderabad importance
Hyderabad will have an important place in that with the British businesses ready to share their expertise on designing smart transport in urban areas apart from the city likely to be one of the places where the British companies plan to set up call-tech hubs that will forge alliances with innovative startups and the support system for them.
The T-Hub may emerge as a key player with the resource persons of calltech hubs connecting with innovative startups there and promoting associations with the British support system. The British companies are already engaged in the Oil and Gas sector in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh sharing their expertise in deep-sea drilling for oil.
More visas
He said increased business visas to Indians will further push the movement of people and businesses cementing the relation further both on cultural and commercial side. The cricket world cup in England is bound to attract more visitors from India.
Students going to UK for higher education has increased by 37% this year and it was about 17% surge the previous year. In fact, 9 out of 10 get a UK visa now. “We want Indian students to explore the prowess of UK varsities and the rising numbers is a positive sign,” he said.
Migration policy
The new migration policy, which is still in the consultative phase, may benefit Indians most, whether students or skilled workers. The new policy being framed in view of the Brexit will provide a level-playing field to all countries, he said and hoped that Indian students and skilled workers will benefit the most.
Mr. Asquith reminded that India is very strong in IT and medical sectors and envisages a migration framework where the strengths of India will work to its advantage.
This view of his is quite interesting given that in 2018 over 55,000 skilled work visas were issued to Indians, which was more than all other countries put together.