A report by Home minister Liam Byrne and UK Trade and Investment department says that the thriving Indian-origin business community in various parts of the country could play a leading role in helping companies do business in India.
The report focusing on Birmingham in the West Midlands, with a large presence of people of Indian-origin, found that help from NRI businessmen could prove vital for companies that found entering the Indian market 'too difficult'.
Trade between the UK and India is currently worth pounds 8.7 billion a year, and growing at a rate of ten per cent per annum.
"For some West Midlands companies and organisations, India currently falls into the 'too difficult' category - one to watch for now, but not yet familiar or easy enough for those more used to the regulation and certainty of Europe," the report said.
But the West Midlands business groups with members who already understood India well, such as the Minority Business Forum and the Institute of Asian Businesses, could play an important role in helping other firms and offering advice to bodies such as the chambers of commerce, it said.
"It is important to ensure that both ethnic and non-ethnic business groups interact fully with each other and share information as widely as possible, so that the relative business advantages of each group may be shared and developed," it said.
