Anuj Chande, Partner and Head of the South Asia Group at Grant Thornton UK LLP, commented: "The appetite and opportunities for successful UK investment by Indian companies remains as strong as ever. In light of sluggish growth potential in India, investors are increasingly eager to enter or scale up their UK operations as the British economy re-enters a growth phase."
The UK and India's cultural history also plays a large part in many Indian executives decision to set up a base here, giving them direct UK market access and a springboard into the recovering European market, he added.
"Ranjan Mathai, High Commissioner of India to the UK, launched the report earlier this week at an exclusive dinner attended by some of the fastest growing and largest Indian employers.
He said, "I am very pleased that this research has been conducted to show the strength of Indian investment and the range of business in which they have invested in the UK. This complements the UKTI statistics of India being the 5th largest investor in the UK last year.
"The pharmaceutical/chemical and technology/telecom sectors represent over half of the organisations in the Top 41 (22 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively); although the automotive, transport and engineering and manufacturing sectors are also strongly represented," Mathai added.
Geographically, the Top 41 had operations spread across the UK, with 29 per cent based in London, 32 per cent based in the South, 29 per cent in the North and 10 per cent based in the Midlands.
The report also identifies 12 Indian corporates, each employing more than 1,000 people in the UK.
