London & Partners (L&P), the British capital’s promotional agency, on Wednesday opened its Bengaluru office, a move aimed at attracting Bengaluru-based businesses to set up in London.

Julie Chappell, L&P’s managing director for international markets, said that the agency would work to attract companies in the financial and business services, technology, creative industries, life sciences and retail industries.

The Bengaluru office, located in the Galaxy WeWork shared workspace on Residency Road, will offer free and confidential advice to potential investors that would cover the entire process from a business making a case to invest in London to setting up operations there. “We offer a ‘consolidated landing package’, from helping a business benchmark London, versus, say, a Singapore or Dubai, as the best location for them to finding office space, talent, business networks, even accountants and lawyers”, said Hemin Bharucha, L&P’s chief representative in India. “And once they are set up, we help them become part of the London Mayor’s business growth programme and delegation. So We help companies to not just set up in London, but also use it as a springboard to go global.”

In the other direction, the L&P office will also help London companies invest in Bengaluru. “India is not the easiest place to do business, so we handhold companies that want to invest here”, Bharucha said.

India is already the third largest investor in the UK. Some 70% of Indian investment goes into London, and of that a third is from Bengaluru, Julie said.