Modi has been innovative, and successful in marketing the country's potential. He is a brand in his own right and is trying to create Brand India. Which is not a bad thing. Other than the Wembley show, this visit is about clean energy and environment mostly. Modi was not elected for intellectual abilities, but for the ability to take hard decisions and resuscitate the economy. Because India could be facing either a demographic dividend or a demographic disaster with no jobs and widespread discontent in the next decade. Let us hope he is up to the challenge.
PM Modi in UK: List of key business deals that India clinched on Day One - Firstpost
London - Prime Minister
Narendra Modi's visit here has seen $14 billion worth of business deals inked by enterprises of the sides, including a $4.4-billion investment by Britain's OPG Power Ventures to add 4,200 MW capacity of new electricity generation in Tamil Nadu over the next few years.
Among the two-dozen pacts and investment commitments acknowledged by Prime Ministers
Narendra Modi and David Cameron was one by Merlin Entertainment to open the famed Madame Tussauds wax museum in New Delhi by early-2017 and another by Vodafone to invest $1.4 billion to support the Government of India's "Digital India" and "Make in India" initiatives.
This apart, the largest Solar power generator in Europe, Lightsource, said it was investing a little over $3 billion in India to design, install and manage around 3 GW of solar power infrastructure in India over the next five years in partnerships with Indian companies, led by Srei Infrastructure.
"Prime Ministers Cameron and Modi noted the deep and fruitful business relationship between the UK and India and welcomed the 9.2 billion pounds ($14 billion) of commercial deals between the UK and India announced during the visit," said a joint statement issued by the two sides after the official talks.
Other major deals announced late on Thursday included:
- Standard Life, Bupa and Aviva to invest a combined total of $365 million in their Indian joint ventures
- Pact between Britain's cloudBuy for facilitating $5,3 billion worth of transactions using an online marketplace
- British technology company Intelligent Energy's $1.8 billion contract to provide clean energy for 27,400 telecoms towers of GTL
- Holland and Barrett International pact with Apollo to open 1,000 stores in India over the next five years
- Kloudpad Mobility Research's investment in South India to make next generation smart watches, wearables and tablets
- TVS to open an advanced logistics facility at Barnsley, a town in South Yorkshire
- London Stock Exchange and Yes Bank pact for collaborations on bond and equity issuance, with focus on green infrastructure
- HDFC's proposal for rupee-denominated bonds overseas up to $750 million under new Indian central bank guidelines
- Wipro's commitment to increases its investment in Britain.
As per the joint statement, the two prime ministers also announced three UK-India city partnerships with Indore, Pune and Amaravati to support India's ambitious urban development goals through technical assistance, expertise sharing and business engagement.
They also launched a new Thames-Ganga partnership for healthy river systems.
