Modi’s UK visit sees $14-bn worth of deals inked

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UK has seen $14 billion worth of business deals signed by enterprises of the two sides, including a $4.4-billion investment by Britain's OPG Power Ventures to add 4,200 MW capacity of electricity generation in Tamil Nadu over the next few years.

Among the two dozen pacts and investment commitments acknowledged by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and David Cameron was one by Merlin Entertainment to open a branch of the famed Madame Tussauds wax museum in New Delhi by early 2017 and one by Vodafone to invest $1.4 billion to support the Government of India's ''Digital India'' and ''Make in India'' initiatives.

This apart, the largest solar power generator in Europe, Lightsource, said it was investing a little over $3 billion in India to design, install and manage around 3 GW of solar power infrastructure over the next five years in partnerships with Indian companies, led by Srei Infrastructure.

''Prime Ministers Cameron and Modi noted the deep and fruitful business relationship between the UK and India and welcomed the 9.2 billion pounds ($14 billion) of commercial deals between the UK and India announced during the visit,'' said a joint statement issued by the two sides after the official talks.

Other major deals announced late on Thursday included:

• Standard Life, Bupa and Aviva to invest a combined total of $365 million in their Indian joint ventures
• Pact between Britain's cloudBuy for facilitating $5,3 billion worth of transactions using an online marketplace
• British technology company Intelligent Energy's $1.8-billion contract to provide clean energy for 27,400 telecoms towers of GTL
• Holland and Barrett International pact with Apollo to open 1,000 stores in India over the next five years
• Kloudpad Mobility Research's investment in South India to make next generation smart watches, wearables and tablets
• TVS to open an advanced logistics facility at Barnsley, a town in South Yorkshire
• London Stock Exchange and Yes Bank pact for collaborations on bond and equity issuance, with focus on green infrastructure
• HDFC's proposal for rupee-denominated bonds overseas up to $750 million under new Indian central bank guidelines
• Wipro's commitment to increases its investment in Britain.

As per the joint statement, the two prime ministers also announced three UK-India city partnerships with Indore, Pune and Amaravati to support India's ambitious urban development goals through technical assistance, expertise sharing and business engagement.

They also launched a new Thames-Ganga partnership for healthy river systems.