Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for liberalising financial services, the policy chairman of the City of London Corporation, Christopher Hayward, on Wednesday said that the Indian government should go for more liberalisation of such services.
According to Hayward, even if the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the United Kingdom and India does not fall through, there are ample opportunities for both the countries. “We see India as probably the fastest growing country in the world. Everybody wants to do business with India. The projections for the next ten years are huge as well. We see today some liberalisation of financial services and legal services, coming from PM Modi, which we welcome. We would encourage further liberalisation, more opportunity,” said Hayward.
“FTA is being negotiated between the UK and India. We are very pleased that it has a financial services chapter in it. Though we don’t know what the agreement is, both the countries should continue negotiations. It will be a framework for our ongoing relationship in financial and professional services. But even if it does not happen, there are opportunities for both the countries” Hayward told PTI at GIFT City near Gandhinagar. The City of London Corporation is a governing body that has unique powers. It represents and promotes the UK’s financial and professional services.
Hayward and his team were in GIFT City to explore investment opportunities for the UK firms and simultaneously attract investment for the City of London. “City of London is a global financial centre for financial and professional services. Our role is to speak for that sector, both to the government and also internationally, which is why I am in India this week. This is my first visit to India and it is more like a fact-finding mission. We will share our experiences with the sector representative in the UK” said Hayward. “We have a lot of expertise in green finance and infrastructure finance, which will be very relevant in India because PM Modi’s push for infrastructure will require private finance along with public funds,” he added.
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