Rewarding India’s business success in the UK

These awards will go a long way to inspiring people in both countries.

Karan Bilimoria
Chief executive
Cobra Beer

By Anna Rooke, OurWorld Editor

Key business figures from the UK and India gathered today at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to celebrate UK Trade & Investment’s India Business Awards.

Karan Bilimoria, CEO of Cobra Beer, joined other notables including Anwar Hasan, Managing Director of Tata Ltd, HE Kamalesh Sharma, the Indian High Commissioner to the UK and Sonjoy Chatterjee, CEO of ICICI Bank.

The awards, which take place in November, will be presented to Indian companies who have established UK businesses, alongside UK companies who have entered the Indian market.

Announced by Prime Minister Tony Blair last September, they are the first created by any government to specifically recognise India’s global business influence and success.

Key Indian business figures on jury

Jury members for the awards were announced at today’s event and include prominent members of the Indian business community.

Karan Bilimoria joins other key figures including Kiran Karnik, president of Nasscom (India's National Association of Software and Service Companies), and Subramanian Ramadorai, chief executive of global IT consulting firm TCS (Tata Consultancy Services).

Building bilateral relations

“The wonderful thing about these awards is they really are about the relationship between India and Britain both ways,” said Bilimoria at today’s event.

“British business is waking up to India, and these awards will go a long way to inspiring people in both countries,” he continued.

Rewarding knowledge-intensive success

The awards are open to Indian and UK companies excelling in hi-tech sectors such as software, telecommunications, business process outsourcing (BPO), pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, healthcare, automotive and engineering services.

Awards including ‘Investor of the Year’ and ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ will recognise the achievements of Indian companies that have chosen to locate in the UK.

Support from the top helps international businesses

“The UK is ideal both as a location for investment and as a gateway to the European market,” said UK Trade & Investment’s chief executive Andrew Cahn, speaking at the event.

“As the organisation that supports companies in the UK doing businesses internationally and advising overseas enterprises seeking to set up and expand in the UK, UK Trade & Investment is pleased to be giving these awards.”

Award nominations are open until June 30 2006.