EP 6 Biryani in the making in Britain

[00:00:00] You also have, and I say this in an Englishman, you have political stability, which is incredibly

[00:00:08] important in terms of maintaining the economic development of the country moving forward.

[00:00:16] Where I'm slightly more cautious is nothing to do with India and everything to do with

[00:00:25] outside India. like me cooking them because I make an awful mess in the kitchen. But yes, I found this book in India many years ago. And it's all the different biryani's from the different states and different regions. So huge variety. So you have, this is your, because you've had a lot of other hats and I have just said

[00:01:41] UKIPC. When this person sitting here has three secretaries, four diaries. The fourth So, I mean, any favourite biryani of yours, you cook out ham and eat types. There's one from Hyderabad and I have to say I can't remember the name, but it is a classic one that is served in a wedding. I can't claim to be a biryani expert, actually I'm a vegetarian on top of it. Hopefully, it's not... is it dumb biryani or Hyderabad or biryani or something like that?

[00:03:02] It's dumb, dumb, but it's a Hyderabad biryani. It's the recipe is from Hyderabad.

[00:03:07] And how long does it take for you to... I need to the country that we're bringing in years is made. Richard, over 200 times. You have been telling some of your death, I'll tell you. Yeah, at least 200 times. Sorry, my nose is running. But yeah, at least 200 times. I've stayed in a certain hotel in Mumbai. We wouldn't say which one, but

[00:05:25] How did you happen to, did you choose that you're an Oxford law graduate, did you choose to get into someone becoming an expert in India and in the UK?

[00:05:30] No, I kind of drifted upon, you know, how did it actually come to pass?

[00:05:36] I was banker, all right, and I worked for Ross Charles.

[00:05:42] And in the 1990 I got involved in India and then subsequently I ran Moss Chills in South and Southeast Asia. And then of course I moved on to the UK, India business comes. So there is a plan, whether

[00:07:03] it was planned or not is another matter. Yeah, I think you planned it. At least you didn't Chief Executive of Reliance, you could meet Mr. Sunil Bhatti Metal. These people were accessible and you could talk to them one-on-one on business. Now I feel that if you were getting off the banana boat, so to speak, in India and you're wanting to try and establish relationships

[00:08:21] with these promoters, it's very much more difficult, not because they are any more aloof, I think that's an interesting question. I think that all things being equal, and I will come back to that if we may. If you look at the domestic economy far as your Ministry of External Affairs are concerned. How do you strengthen the relationships, who you should have the relationships with, etc. So I think that is something that one has'm sure, go on to the Security Council in the United Nations. It's become part of a number of the alliances in that Southeast Asian area. So it's externalizing its power, its economic power, in, I think, in a socially responsible

[00:12:25] way. be they, you know, the man in the street and or, you know, the technocrats in the technology companies. There was a time I can remember when I was looking at a project with Mr. Ramadurai from from then he was he'd left TCS but in Tottas and we were looking at how we could create a

[00:14:51] India, for instance, to give you an example, you know, Ola. I went to visit Mr. Agarwal's factory just outside Hosa, you know, two million square feet of factory, 20,000 young people,

[00:14:58] a five acre forest in part because of the industries And Mugins got that, but it was the whole team behind me that contributed to that award being made. I think, sorry, now I've got to go on for a try. I thought what was the question you were. setting the foundations in terms of getting the standards aligned, such that we're talking the same language, but also working together on developing the supply chains in these areas,

[00:20:06] post Brexit do you think this could be also a contributory factor that once upon a time this was a 500 million big UK Europe market and now you have the 500 million going the other way which is

[00:20:14] with India and they don't really think that's that big a deal for us but for UK now that is a big

[00:20:20] deal to get that agreement and with you know Indo-Pacific has been a great development in a way that is mutually beneficial, then I think that's extremely strong and I'm pretty confident that will happen. Then I'm sure absolutely and it should as well. I'm saying has UK had to work harder for the deals now, suppose Brexit?

[00:21:41] I'm sure that they have had to work harder, the technical capabilities, not just in terms of producing the goods initially, but servicing going forward, these criteria are now pretty I should say sympathy. But you know you have, can we bad knock? You have Cersch Goyle. These are two very professional politicians. And they're fighting their corners as one might. It's entirely appropriate. But I And particularly, I'm not talking about visas, but I am talking about the ability and willingness of content to be delivered in the right way to the betterment of the maximum amount of

[00:25:43] people in both countries. into India because it's one like an iceberg. You know, one tenth of the iceberg you see above the surface. And that's the one tenth of people who come here to the UK. But in fact, the need is much greater. It's the nine tenths that are below the surface who are in India, who have the ambitions

[00:27:02] that young people have in India quite rightly escalated with more wars on the corner. Why does it still remain where people would want to come? Predominantly because we are still an extremely open society. If you're wanting to come here and set up a company, you're wanting to come here and work in a company. It's extremely easy

[00:29:26] survey internationally recognized to measure progress. But we do a survey in the UK Indian Business Council every year have done so since 2014 in which we ask variants of the same questions

[00:29:37] around easy doing business. And consistently every single year there has been an improvement If a company was to come to you and for consult to go and do business in India, what are the three things you'll tell that company? It basically starts off with what is your product? Because in certain areas in India, there happens to be probably a greater concentration of

[00:31:05] qualified workforce. Well, I think one thing is the relative decline, significant decline of corruption. And that has been helped by the fact that a lot of permissions, a lot of interactions with state government, yes, well, we can improve this area and we can move in that. I think that India to a certain extent is still an extremely bureaucratic country. We've inherited. No, you perfect it. Let's do this one right. You perfect it.

[00:33:40] You're perfect with it.

[00:33:41] Okay, I see a lot of bureaucracy here as well

[00:33:44] and it's more very slowly.

[00:33:46] You know what it's like.

[00:33:48] Yes. property protection. So yes, there are areas where there can be improvements. I'd like to see a number of states having faster transit to airports. I mean, if you're, when we last in Bangalore. I haven't been to Bangalore.

[00:35:01] Oh, there you go.

[00:35:03] I can tell you that getting to Bangalore airport or getting Delhi airport or getting If I'm a business person and I am going to set up a factory, my first and foremost thought will be where is my market? Okay, where am I going to sell the goods I produce? Some of them will go internationally for export, a lot of them will go domestically into the

[00:36:22] economy. the fact that you have had political and economic stability for a period of time, which has allowed reforms to be embedded into the system and for the benefits to come out to the other side. So if I was going to make a comparison, but it's just a comment, that would be where

[00:37:41] I would, that's how I phrase it. only been a period of, let's say, 1752, I don't know, let's say 2000s. So 250 years in the entire span of global history, where the road got reversed. And that was purely to make the best off. So I think if there was a concern, it wasn't that India could not achieve its potential. It's when it was going to achieve its potential. And I think what we're seeing now with the level of relative growth, that it's certainly on track.

[00:40:20] Your verdict on G20 in India?

[00:40:22] I thought it was great. All right. I honestly believe that there is complementarity there which we can continue to exploit and develop.

[00:41:40] Thank you. Okay, so we do a high five India creativity in that sort of way is a goal-given gift. What would you ask? What would you ask him?

[00:43:00] Why did he pay? How did his style evolve into that? Why did it go that direction? things I find fascinating about India is that you never stop learning and I think that's common to whether you're an Indian, whether you're a or whether it's not. So... But we still get it. Do you get it? Yeah, I still get it. I have to practice a bit now.

[00:45:42] But no.

[00:45:43] You're going to India now, so you will get my back.

[00:45:45] I'm going to India very shortly, yes.

[00:45:47] Yes. house. I have to say a huge thank you to this beautiful hotel, Middle 8 Hotel, which actually is the place where the Great Pavarotti played for the first time outside of Italy. And the food here is also quite amazing. So I've had it. So thank you very much Middle 8 Hotel.

[00:47:00] And please do join in on another episode and another journey to India of a person who has