Indian IT firms will be the first representatives of Indian
industry to meet a new parliamentary group focused on improving the
UK's economic relations with India.
IT suppliers such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL and
Infosys will meet the new group onWednesday 11 February. Private
sector and public sector IT projects as well as immigration the key
discussion points.
The fact that IT firms have been selected for the first meeting
is no surprise given they contribute a large proportion of Indian
investment in the UK. TCS and HCL employ 5,000 and 2,000 people in
the UK respectively. The next meeting of the APPG will be with
banking and financial services firms in India.
A spokesman for the
All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on UK-India trade and
investment relations said the experiences of Indian IT firms are
sought by the group. "With the economic downturn companies are
trying to make cost savings and this is a way of seeing what role
Indian IT companies can play in this. It will also look at how
public sector procurement can be improved," he said.
TCS has digitised the equivalent of Companies House records
across India, as well as health patient records on a computer
database in the state of Andhra Pradesh,which has a larger
population than the UK.
A total of 14 major UK
government projects have failed to meet expectations. These
includeprojectsat the Intelligence Services, GCHQ, the Passport
Service, the National Health Service, the Rural Payments Agency,
the Criminal Records Bureau, HM Revenue &Customs, the
Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health, the
Department for Innovation Universities Skills, theMinistry of
Defence and the Prison Service.
Trade Minister Gareth Thomas will be at the first meeting, along
withformer cabinet ministers Patricia Hewitt and Charles
Clarke.
"There is a unique bond between the UK and India which gives the
success of our business relationship a huge head start. But nothing
is guaranteed, which is why this group is so important," said Amur
S. Lakshminarayanan,UK head ofTCS.