16 January 2008
A Jersey delegation is heading to India next month to strengthen relationships with existing Jersey-based business from the sub continent. The Minister for Economic Development, Senator Philip Ozouf, has accepted an official invitation from the President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce to visit Mumbai. The invitation was extended during a visit to Jersey last year by Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Telecommunications and current President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce who was in the Island to officially launch Jersey Airtel.
The Minister will lead a delegation of States officers including the Chief Executive of Economic Development, Mike King, Director of International Trade, Wayne Gallichan and Martin de Forest Brown, the States International Finance Director. The group will also be joined by Geoff Cook, Chief Executive of Jersey Finance Limited.
As well as strengthening existing relationships it is hoped to use these networks to help drive more institutions and businesses to the Island. Martin de Forest Brown and Geoff Cook will be meeting with intermediaries from the financial services sector, whilst Mike King and Wayne Gallichan will be focusing on establishing relationships with local businesses keen to invest outside of India. An example of this is Infrasoft Technology, an Indian Company which has set up a head office in Jersey. During their stay, the delegation will visit the Infrasoft Headquarters and meet some of the Jersey people who are currently being trained by the company in Mumbai. To maximise the group’s visit to the Country, additional meetings are being arranged, using local intermediaries, such as Minerva Financial Services and Bank of India.
The Minister has also written to the Jersey Chamber of Commerce and Institute of Directors offering support to any Jersey company establishing in the Indian market.
The visit takes place between 11 and 16 February 2008 and coincides with NASSCOM, India’s largest conference for software service providers. Mike King spoke at the conference in 2005 and the delegation will also attend. The Indian Chamber of Commerce is helping to make arrangements on behalf of the group and will be hosting a reception for them on 11 February, at which representatives from Bharti Telecommunications will be speaking.
Senator Philip Ozouf says, “It is essential that we in Jersey grow and diversify the economy both in terms of geographic reach and products. India is a very exciting market seeing significant growth and along with China is becoming an economic superpower of the future. There are exciting opportunities for Jersey in Financial Services and Intellectual Property and we need to start to invest time and resources to develop these opportunities. This is the first time Jersey is formally visiting India and I’m looking forward to an intense series of meetings to understand the opportunities, raise awareness of Jersey and prepare for the very important opportunities that exist for |Jersey in India”.
Speaking on behalf of Jersey Finance Limited, Chief Executive, Geoff Cook says, “India has become a trillion dollar economy and capital flows for inward and outward investment are reaching record levels and set to grow significantly. With over 1.1billion people, financial services are seeing explosive growth with a fourfold increase predicted in wealth management by 2012. Jersey has the expertise and services which the market is demanding and this first visit will seek to build a bridgehead on which we can deliver future promotional activity”
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