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Finding business growth in India

New CBI report highlights a seven-point plan to catalyse India’s growth and is key to unlocking the Indian market for British companies through easing foreign operations in India.

05 Dec 2019, 3 min read

India has set its sights on becoming a $5trn economy by 2025 and is working to increase its attractiveness as a destination for foreign investment to achieve it. The CBIs recent white paper on ease of doing business, in partnership with EY, Sterling access - UK companies supporting India's growth has outlined a seven-point plan to catalyse India’s growth guided by three principles to further business reform.

The action plan aims to support government of India’s vision to attain 50th rank in the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings by streamlining sector-agnostic challenges in India’s regulatory environment. The progress has been steady, but what do businesses already making a success of it in India think of the opportunities?

Reasons to invest

In the CBI’s report, British businesses specified five top reasons to invest in India:

  • Potential for domestic market growth
  • Capacity for technology and innovation
  • Proximity to other markets/customers
  • Availability of skilled workforce
  • Competitive operating costs

Reform to grow

Since 2014, the Government of India launched regulatory reforms aimed at making it easier to do business in India including decreasing the number of procedures and time taken to start a business in India.

As the CBI-EY Sterling access concludes, tackling the further barriers that it identifies won’t just benefit the UK companies, but will benefit the Indian economy as a whole. This will give businesses the enabling environment and support to operate successfully, thereby making India a strong player in the global value chain.

And as more foreign businesses invest in India, progress is only likely to accelerate.

The report asks the Government of India to:

  • Take advantage of the opportunity created by a stable majority and strong political capital enjoyed by the government to build consensus on further reforms to improve the ease of doing business
  • Prioritise reforms which have a multiplier effect, and which would have a big impact on specific indicators in the Ease of Doing Business Rankings
  • Harmonise domestic standards with international standards to reduce technical barriers to trade.

Key highlights from the report

The scale of the economic partnership between the UK and India

What British businesses think about the Indian economy?

Practical measures which would immediately improve the business environment in India

The size of the prize – growing economic ties between the UK and India.

As the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself remarked, the UK and India together are an “unbeatable combination”. This report outlines a plan to make the combination even more compelling.

For more information or comment, contact Sakshi Jain or Shehla Hasan.