Riding on Olympics, London woos Indian investment

The London city administration aims at making the 'Tech City' which houses over 600 companies surpass the famed Silicon Valley.

Gordon Innes, CEO of London and Partners, which is promoting the iconic city for the investment along with the Olympic Games, was here last week. London and Partners is funded by the city Mayor.

India is among the top sources of investment since there are 10,000 Indian-owned businesses in London, employing 49,000 people. They generate a turnover of 14.4 billion USD and represent five per cent of London's economy.

More than a million visitors, streaming in from different parts of the world, will witness the Olympics on the banks of river Thames.

The city is already fully prepared for the sporting extravaganza with its games villages and other facilities.

"We will be bringing 240 leading investors to London for business conferences and networking with the business houses here," Innes told PTI.

Talking about the 'Tech City', he said, "We have leading social networking companies like Facebook and Google in the tech city and a number of companies on cloud computing and other streams are coming in."

"A lot of opportunities for Indian companies and firms await in our new tech city which has been developed about four years back. We hope the Indian interests and investments will grow in the future in London," Innes said.

India is one of the largest investors in London. Thirty-four Indian companies have set up or expanded business in London in the current financial year which generated 589 new jobs.

Innes said the country is fully prepared to host the next year's Olympic games in the city with all the accommodation and athlete facilities complete.

"We have created world class facilities...we can even host the Olympics next week. A number of tourist attractions, cultural shows, and a host of unique celebration await the visitors from across the world including Indian tourists," he said.

Innes said elaborate security arrangements will be made for the Games which will see a "record number of Metropolitan police" personnel guarding the city.

"We are hosting the Olympics with the theme 'People's Games'. We will also leave a legacy that the London Olympics 2012 are the greenest games ever with a huge plantation and eco-friendly measures ensured before and after the Games," he said.