Member Article

"Yorkshire firms must take advantage of Indian trade links" says top law firm

The number of manufacturing firms based in India looking to forge new trade links with Yorkshire businesses is set to increase significantly during the next 12 months – according to law firm, Irwin Mitchell.

Irwin Mitchell, which today (19 November 2013) hosted a trade visit from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), says that businesses here in the region must take advantage of this renewed interest from India and look to grow the amount of trade they do in the country.

Sandip Khroud, an associate in the Corporate team at the Leeds office of Irwin Mitchell, said: “This latest trade visit is very significant as usually trade visits like this are focussed on London. The fact that the CII has come specifically to Yorkshire shows the level of interest that there is now in the region.

“There are some examples of businesses in Yorkshire who have successfully managed to forge close ties with businesses overseas, but more can be done.”

Sandip, who is also a director of the Yorkshire Asian Business Association, added: “We were delighted to host this recent delegation from India.”

“It has been a very positive event and it is clear from discussions on the day that they really want to engage and explore joint ventures and to build their trade in the UK. It is vital that businesses here respond and look to explore opportunities in India.”

The trip saw 20 manufacturers visit Irwin Mitchell’s offices in Leeds. Here the delegation met with representatives from Yorkshire businesses on a one-to-one basis and then visited a number of manufacturing businesses across Sheffield before returning to Leeds for a dinner.

In addition to Irwin Mitchell, other organisations that were involved were the Yorkshire Asian Business Association and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI). There were also representatives from Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in Leeds and Sheffield.

The visit to Yorkshire comes at a time when the Government is looking to increase the number of businesses that are exporting. The Government recently launched its ‘Exporting is GREAT’ initiative is described at the ‘biggest ever’ push to raise the proportion of firms that currently export to a quarter. The figure currently stands at a fifth.

Business Secretary, Vince Cable, is also targeting £1.2bn in export revenue from the leads it generates.

Founded over 118 years ago, the CII has over 7100 members and is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed business association. Members operate in the public and private sectors and range from SMEs to multinational corporations.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .