SCOTLAND’s expertise in sectors such as science, energy and creative industries comes under the microscope today in the first of a series of networking events aimed at fostering investment and collaboration opportunities with India.
The inaugural summit at Edinburgh Castle has been organised by Guru for Scots and Vedics (GSV), whose CEO is Nidhin Chand, an Indian businessperson who now lives in Scotland.
She set up GSV to identify investment opportunities across Scotland as well as potential collaborative projects in technology, research and development, education and the arts.
Chand told The National that Scotland was the UK’s most attractive location for foreign direct investment (FDI) after London, and had been for six of the last seven years.
READ MORE: Report shows Edinburgh housing market in top position since 2008
Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen were among the top 10 UK cities for investment which had been led by the US, Germany, Switzerland and Norway and she wanted to see India climb the leader board.
READ MORE: Project seeks to save rare Scottish plants from extinction
“I was a businessperson in India and when I came here my friends arranged a couple of similar events I went to in London.
“This idea came about after them when I was thinking about what I should do to bring together my connections in India and Scotland.
“Initially I was going to have 20 people coming over but five of them have not been able to get their visas in time, because of the Christmas holidays … but they will come over in future because they are potential investors.”
She said among her guests were representatives from Kerala Chamber of Commerce and the multinational conglomerate LuLu Group, who were keen to explore investment possibilities here: “They are hoping to invest in the industrial and housing sectors.
“And there are people from the technology sector who want to collaborate with Scottish firms and institutions involved in that.
“Hyderabad was the first IT city in India in its early days and these people want to see collaboration between that sector in India and in Scotland.”
Chand said there was also interest in the low and zero-emission buses developed by Alexander Dennis and BAE Systems.
“We will have a delegation from the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas India.
“And we have prominent entrepreneurs from India representing the mining industry, education sector and so on.
“Through this platform, we aim to facilitate collaboration between countries focusing on investment promotion, technology transfer, workplace training partnerships and other areas of interest.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel