Diaspora’s contribution to UK economy quantified

London, February 5

Indian diaspora-owned companies in the UK with a combined revenue of £36.84 billion employ over 1.74 lakh persons and pay over £1 billion in corporation tax, according to a first-of-its-kind research.

The “India in the UK: The Diaspora Effect” report, released here on Tuesday, analysed data related to 654 Indian diaspora-owned companies in the UK with a turnover of at least £1 lakh and found they collectively invest around £2 billion through capital expenditure.

The report, produced by Grant Thornton UK jointly with the Indian High Commission in London and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI UK), zeroed in on a select few of an estimated total of over 65,000 diaspora-connected companies.

“This report does not claim to be an exhaustive record of the full contribution of the UK businesses owned by the Indian diaspora. It covers over 650 relatively large businesses owned by the Indian diaspora, which were looked at in greater detail,” said Ruchi Ghanashyam, Indian High Commissioner to the UK, who was the catalyst behind the project that began in March last year.

“Though this report looks only at the businesses with an annual turnover of more than £1 lakh, we hope contributions of the many smaller enterprises will be added in future reports,” said the envoy, as she dedicated the report to the 1.5-million-strong Indian diaspora in the UK, which, she noted, has been described as a “living bridge” between the two countries by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The report aims to help develop a better understanding of the contributions of businesses owned by people of Indian origin to the UK and builds on the insight developed by Grant Thornton’s annual “India Meets Britain Tracker”, which track the fastest-growing Indian companies in the UK.

“This report celebrates the contribution of the Indian diaspora not just to the UK’s economic prosperity, but increasingly to its wider society too,” said Anuj Chande, Partner and Head of the South Asia Group, Grant Thornton UK.

Among some of its other highlight findings, of the 654 companies researched, around 35 per cent have one or more women directors on their board and 23 businesses generate 80 per cent of the total jobs provided by the Indian diaspora companies in the UK—a total of 1.4 lakh jobs.

The top five employers include B&M Retail Limited, with 26,496 jobs, followed by Vedanta Resources Ltd (25,083), Boparan Holdco Ltd (21,949), Hinduja Automotive (19,601) and HC-One Ltd (10,949). — PTI