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The article in the Evening Standard (by Robert Lindsay) reports that
Indian software firms flood in
Just as British freelance IT consultants are being driven abroad by new taxes, London's inward investment agency says it is presiding over a surge of Indian software companies setting up in the capital.
The number has grown from 34 to 42 in the past two years and two more firms are about to announce a move here, according to the London First Centre.
The Treasury's initiative to 'fast-track' visa applications for Indian, African and East European IT professionals has been a factor, said London First director Colin Wood, who has helped 10 Indian companies open offices here. 'The time taken to get visas for staff from India has fallen from eight weeks before to only three weeks,' he said.
The invasion comes after many British freelance operators have said they will be driven abroad by the Inland Revenue's planned IR35 rule that will tax them as full-time staff.
London First said the businessmen behind India's IT boom are using London as a base for European expansion because they find the English language, banking and trade laws and the city's multi-ethnicity better for their staff.
Indian firms' London offices range in size from a handful of staff to close to 100 and most employ English sales and marketing staff, bringing in Indian staff where expertise on their software products is required.
The success of London contrasts with Germany, where a move by the government to provide 'green cards' to Indian IT professionals has run into protests from nationalists. Wood said: 'What Indians are telling me is that they would rather come to London than Germany in any case.'
Only last month, animation software house 3CRC, one of India's fastest growing IT companies and a subsidiary of Pentasoft Technologies, opened its European HQ in London.
Ramesh Pillai, head of European operations, said: 'London was our natural choice given the language, easy accessibility to all our customers and fairly similar banking and trade laws to India.'
He said two other factors were the city's excellent IT infrastructure and its 'metropolitan nature'.
'Its melting pot of various communities has given a feeling of comfort to our employees,' he explained.
Other newcomers include a subsidiary of Mumbai tractor-making conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra and Mumbai software consultant Blue Star Infotech; two Calcutta software outfits - Polaris Solutions and RS Software - and Hyderabad's Choice Solutions.
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