“To me, the thing that ties the UK and India together most closely is that we are two countries chasing the future,” said Kanishka Narayan, the Welsh Indian Labour MP who recently returned from a visit to India as part of a parliamentary delegation for bilateral exchanges.
“As we talk about the Viksit Bharat vision of a developed India to 10x (10 times) its GDP over the course of the period from now until 2047, the government’s primary mission here (in the UK) is economic growth… so the interest we have is a deeply shared interest. The symmetry of what we are trying to do is pretty complete,” he said.
Among those honoured at the event, Ashesh Jani, cofounder and CEO of Ribbon Plc, named fintech of the year for his efforts to “support millions of Indian students and professionals navigating the complexities of international financial systems”.
Shreeram Iyer collected the Global Firm of the Year award as Chairman and CEO of Prisma.ai for “revolutionising the field of AI-driven visual recognition, providing cutting-edge solutions for image and video analysis”.
Narnolia, one of India’s leading firms in fund management, investment advisory, and investment banking, was awarded the Top Fund Manager of the Decade, while Manish Tiwari was named British Indian of the Year for his promotional efforts within the India-UK corridor through his firm Here and Now 365.
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“This year’s event comes against the backdrop of Prime Ministers Keir Starmer and Narendra Modi announcing the relaunch of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks, which IBEF has been engaging with and is hopeful that a deal will be signed by next year,” said IEBF Founder Vijay Goel. “The goal of our forum, launched in 2007, is to build on the vision of a ‘new strategic partnership’ between India and the UK focusing on security, education, technology and climate change and also promote Prime Minister Modi’s Viksit Bharat mission across Europe.
“Economic partnerships thrive on trust and shared understanding and this annual event is designed to foster that trust across sectors,” he said.
Also, at the event Karnataka’s labour minister Santosh Lad made a special pitch for his state as a prime investment destination with its investor-friendly policies.
“Karnataka is a great opportunity because we stand number one in IT; it has great potential, with a ready skill set waiting for you,” he said.
Hosted by British Indian peer Baroness Sandy Verma, as a key member of the IEBF Advisory Board, the event brought together a range of parliamentarians, diplomats and business chiefs.