Hyderabad, Feb 8 (IANS): Scottish Development International (SDI), the international economic development arm of the Scottish government, Friday announced opening of its office here, the first in south India.
SDI, which works to attract investment to Scotland and helps Scottish companies to trade overseas, sees good potential for collaboration with Hyderabad and the rest of south India in life sciences, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), education and renewable energy.
"We see synergies of co-strengths between Scotland and the south India. This will be mutually beneficial collaboration and sharing of knowledge and expertise," SDI CEO Anne MacColl told reporters here.
SDI, which already has offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, will initially have two people here who will operate from the office of British deputy high commission.
Fifteen companies from India including Wipro, TCS, Axsys have their presence in Scotland with an investment of 700 million pounds in last five years and adding 5,000 jobs to the Scottish economy.
Scotland, with an excellent academic base supported by 14 top universities, not only offers opportunities for Indian companies in life sciences but is also making rapid growth in business process outsourcing (BPO). It is also an attractive and cost-effective location to set up business in Europe.
Describing India as a key market, MacColl said the exports from Scotland to India grew by 11 percent last year against the overall growth of seven percent in global exports from Scotland. "Scotland has set an ambitious target of 50 percent growths in exports by 2017," she said.
Mark Dolan, country manager, SDI, said 15 Scottish companies have their presence in India, either in the form of stand-alone projects or joint ventures with Indian companies.
He noted that the number of Scottish companies coming to India was increasing by 25 percent for the last two years.
The current bilateral trade between Scotland and India is 300 million pounds and they hoped it would grow further with the vast opportunities of cooperation between them.
About 120 companies attended a meet hosted by SDI here Thursday to mark the opening of its office.