Britain is open for business

So what does the Indian business community in the UK think of Narendra Modi as the next possible Prime Minister PM of India In the large and prosperous Gujarati community in Harrow Wembley and Brent in London there is frankly delight at the prospect of ldquohaving our own Gujju PMrdquo However it would be wrong to characterise all Indian tycoons in Britain as signed up members of the BJP But rather like the British government the billionaire boys will be pragmatic and do business with whoever occupies the gaddi in Delhi On behalf of the Hindujas who have once again come out top among ldquoBritainrsquos 101 Wealthiest Asiansrdquo with a fortune estimated at pound135 billion Gopi Hinduja said ldquoWe are hoping for a stable government If a stable government comes from 2016 our Indiarsquos economy will be booming like beforerdquoHere they are Sunny amp Shay Grewal right arriving at the Asian Business Awards annual Asian Rich List 101 PIC Yui MokPA WireRiseThe latest annual list of the richest Asians mostly Indian with a sprinkling of Pakistanis shows the number of billionaires has risen from seven in 2013 to nine this year Those already in this club included Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja pound135 billion Lakshmi Mittal of ArcelorMittal pound12 billion Anil Agarwal of Vedanta Resources pound24 billion Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan Singh of Boparan Holdings pound135 billion Simon Bobby and Robin Arora of BampM Retail pound13 billion Jasminder Singh of Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotels pound12 billion and Sir Anwar Pervez of Bestway Holdings pound11 billionThe lone Pakistani in the group Sir Anwar Pervez 79 worked on the buses when he came to Britain in 1956 as a 21yearold He managed to send two of his sons to Eton College which has educated David Cameron as well as Princes William and Harry He would like to export much more cement to India from his factories in Pakistan and sees increased trade as a way of improving IndiaPakistan relationsMittal Mettle Lakshmi Mittal the steel tycoonNewA brand new entry is that of Lakshmi Mittalrsquos brotherinlaw Sri Prakash Lohia 61 chairman of Indorama who has been valued at pound2 billion Lohiarsquos polyestermaking plants are in Indonesia and elsewhere but he is spending more and more time in London where he has bought a Mayfair mansion The Chandaria family have also been revalued at pound1 billion so they too join the billionaire boysThe list compiled by the Asian Media and Marketing Group shows that the total net worth of the 101 wealthiest Asians in the UK has gone up over the past 12 months from pound45598000 to pound51730000 mdash an increase of pound6132000 amounting to 135 per cent Far from being a burden on the economy Indians who have become essentially middle class provide hundreds of thousands of jobs for British people Investment from India helpsGlam Touch Manrina Rekhi and Rishpal Singh Rekhi better known by his stage name Rishi Rich PIC Yui MokPA WirePowerfulAt a gala dinner attended by 800 of the movers and shakers of the Asian community in Britain the Rich List was officially released by the education secretary Michael Gove He knows that in next yearrsquos general election in the UK the Asian vote will be critically important in some 40 marginal seats In a tight fight Asian voters could decide whether Labourrsquos Ed Miliband replaces David CameronGujaratThis is a landmark year for the Hindujas being the centenary of the founding of the business by Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja in 1914 That was the year he moved at the age of 13 from Shikarpur his birthplace in Sindh to Bombay which he was clever enough to see would become Indiarsquos commercial hub Lord Swraj Paul 10th on the list with pound750 million the 83yearold chairman of the steel empire which has 32 factories in India has just returned from a 10day trip to DelhiWhen Mamata Banerjee blocked Ratan Tatarsquos Nano project in Singur in West Bengal Lord Paul also had to follow Tata to Gujarat and relocate Caparorsquos automobile parts factory in Modi country Lord Paul has visited Gujarat only once but his experience has been ldquovery good You donrsquot hear of any problems or complaints from your people in running the Gujarat plantsrdquoNews and Views Newsreader Sonali Shah arriving at the Asian Business Awards annual Asian Rich List 101 at Westminster Park Plaza London PICYui MokPA WireChangeDid he subscribe to the opinion held by some captains of industry that a Modi prime ministership would be good for the Indian economy ldquoIf you go by the Gujarat experiment I have no other choice but to agreerdquo replied Lord Paul ldquoGujarat is the plant where we have had no complaints no unhappiness the rest time will tell But a change is good for any countryrdquoHe reckons President Pranab Mukherjee will be kept busy after the elections results are declared He fervently hopes there will be ldquoa new and fairer relationship between India and the NRI Non Resident Indian population round the world India must give greater respect to NRIs mdash they are very much part of India They are often treated just as lsquocash cowsrsquo But whenever there is a financial crisis the country goes to NRIs mdash last time 65 billion flooded in as a result of an appeal for help Meanwhile people in India were trying to take out their money So who has more faith in India mdash NRIs or people in IndiardquoEconomyIf the economy in India does pick up more Indians will travel to London and perhaps stay at the May Fair the luxurious flagship of the 14strong Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotels whose chairman is 63yearold Jasminder Singh He is building a new hotel in Londonrsquos Leicester Square as part of a ldquohalf a billion dollar projectrdquo As a ldquoglobal citizenrdquo he gives high marks to the old wing of the Taj in Mumbai ldquofabulousrdquo and the Imperial in Delhi ldquoexceptionalrdquo but says that even the best hotels in India are outclassed by those in Thailand a country which ldquodoes it better both for price point and productrdquoWrite turn Anita RaghavanMumbai Alas Mumbai Port gets very poor marks from Rami Ranger 66 who is 48th with pound135 million and has won the ldquoQueenrsquos award for enterprise in international traderdquo five years running His freight company Sea Air and Land despatches goods to 112 countries But sending consignments to India where clearing is delayed by bureaucracy and inefficiency in ports is about the one issue which makes Ranger really angry ldquoMumbai is the worstrdquo he allegedRangerrsquos entertaining autobiography From Nothing to Everything An inspiring saga of struggle and success from pound2 to a pound200 million business reveals that when Ranger first came to Britain from Punjab in 1971 he began by cleaning cars and could not even afford a bicycle ldquoNow I have a RollsRoycerdquo said Ranger though he uses a Mercedes for everyday travellingldquoI use the RollsRoyce to show offrdquo he grinned engaginglyBrotherhoodToday Indian entrepreneurs appear to be forming almost a brotherhood of billionaires across national boundaries In the United States venture capitalists and IT investors lead the field mdash Bharat Desai net worth 2 billion chairman and cofounder of Syntel Romesh Wadhwani 19 billion founder and chairman of Symphony Technology Kavitark Ram Shriram 16 billion Google board member and shareholder Manoj Bhargava 15 billion founder and CEO of the popular energy drink brand ldquo5hour energyrdquo and Vinod Khosla 14 billion partner at Khosla VenturesRichThe rich comprise more of a mixed bag in India according to figures from Forbes mdash Mukesh Ambani 21 billion chairman Reliance Industries Azim Premji 138 billion chairman of Wipro Shiv Nadar 86 billion cofounder HCL Technologies Kumar Birla 76 billion inherited the Aditya Birla group Sunil Mittal Bharti 66 billion of Airtel Anil Ambani 62 billion Kushal Pal Singh 34 billion of DLF Rahul Bajaj 31 billion motorcycles N R Narayana Murthy 16 billion founder of Infosys and Nandan Nilekani 13 billion cofounder Infosys and would be Congress MPAnalysis In Africa people of Indian origin are among the 50 richest people mdash for example Vimal Shah 16 billion CEO of Bidco Oil Refineries and Sudhir Ruparelia 11 billion chairman of a Ugandan property and banking conglomerate One woman who has compared the Indian rich in the UK and the US is Anita Raghavan author of The Billionairersquos Apprentice The Rise of the IndianAmerican Elite and the Fall of the Galleon Hedge Fund Having gone to school at Cheltenham Ladiesrsquo College in England Raghavan went to university in America first at Pennsylvania then at Columbia Afterwards she became a journalist working for the Wall Street Journal for 18 ldquofantasticrdquo years and then for Forbes Since 1999 she has been living in London writing business stories for the New York Times ldquoI would have gone to university in the UK but my father decided I had become too English and strongly suggested I do university in the Statesrdquo recalled Raghavan ldquoI am actually glad I went to the States America more than any other country is about meritocracy and I donrsquot think the UK is the same wayrdquo She finds the pace of life in Britain more to her taste though ldquoWhat a glorious place to live mdash there is green There is a wonderful gentleness I choose to live here I donrsquot choose to work hererdquoQuestionThere is a story about an Indian woman tycoon who was invited by David Cameron to tea at 10 Downing Street ldquoInstead of going to America you should have come to Britainrdquo he said The woman smiled and said ldquoIn that case itrsquos highly unlikely I would have been invited hererdquo The big question in London is whether Cameron will have to welcome the next Indian Prime Minister to his house with the greeting Kem cho