Curry is a favourite dish among the British and most of the country’s 9,000 Indian restaurants boast chefs who hail from the land of daal and chapati. But those authentic flavours that are loved so much may soon be a little less than authentic.
The UK’s immigration cap has stung Indian industry leaders who are worried that that the new rules against non-EU immigration might impact Indian companies who heavily invested in the UK as well as those UK-based companies that rely on workers from the south Asian peninsula, particularly in services sectors such as IT, food and hospitality.
Ironically, the move comes just a month before the newly-elected Prime Minister David Cameron visits India with the intention of attracting greater Indian investment to the UK.
There are more than 700 Indian companies with investments in the UK and about two thirds are in the IT and computer software sectors. According to the Confederation for Indian Industry (CII) Indian companies are also the second highest foreign employers in Britain, after the US. Tata, the UK’s largest foreign investor, employs a total workforce of 47,000.
India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Anand Sharma, who was in London meeting with the new coalition government this week said: “Our business leaders, professionals and other institutions have stated concerns over this matter. Though we understand the United Kingdom and European Union regulations, but the regime has to be investor friendly and must not come in the way of free movement of investors and professionals.”
Over the last few years big Indian names of the likes of ICICI Bank and Kingfisher Airlines have set up bases in London. Some Indian companies like Wipro and IL&FS have even made London their European headquarters. Many fear these companies will face difficulties getting visas for young Indian talent.
The new legislation may indeed be a whack in a tender spot for India, which ranks as the second biggest foreign investor to the UK by number of projects. According to the UK’s secretary of state Vince Cable, bilateral trade with the UK is worth at least £11bn a year.
But some analysts don’t think the immigrant cap will have much of an impact on Indo-British trade. Grant Thornton’s, Anuj Chande, who specialises in corporate finance advisory services to South Asian companies coming to the UK, echoed the UK government’s assertion and was unconvinced by the idea that there “would be any significant impact to Indian business.”
In response, Amit Kapadia, the Director of the UK’s Highly Skilled Migrant Program, said in a statement to the press, “Any such cap will hit Indian professionals because most non-EU migrants to the UK come from India.”
Whether David Cameron’s visit to India will be a successful mission or not remains to be seen, but let’s hope he gets a good curry before getting on a plane back home.