The Lord Mayor of the City of London Jeffrey Evans is visiting India from 17-23 March going to Delhi and Mumbai, with a delegation. In 100 days, as the 688th Lord Mayor, he has already visited 11 cities in the world, renewing overseas links with the City of London, and India is the next destination. The agenda includes looking to develop partnership in various areas.
On reaching Delhi, the Lord Mayor, who is visiting India for the first time, will be meeting the Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Power and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal. A meeting with the Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, is in the pipeline.
He will also be meeting with senior representatives of British Business Groups (BBG) and UK India Business Council (UKIBC) in Delhi.
The Lord Mayor will be meeting the Mansion House Scholar: an award given to one or more pupil, who could be tomorrow's leaders. The scholarship in conjunction with Chevening, facilitates a brilliant student to gain experience of a lifetime to study in one of UK's universities- including an opportunity to work with one of City's highest businesses. There are 26 participating nations, and the local High commissions help to reach out to right applicants. He is meant to attend the Education UK Alumni Awards hosted by the British Council.
On 21st March the Lord Mayor will be having breakfast with UK banks viz. HSBC, Standard Chartered, Barclays and RBS, visiting the SEBI Chairman and National Stock Exchange, attending a roundtable by City of London Corporation, Mumbai on internationalisation of rupee, followed by a dinner reception with the CFOs of Indian companies. Speaking about internationalisation of money, the Lord Mayor who is against Brexit, said, “This has a tremendous potential. As trading partners, we could assist in this matter and there are a number of conversation in place.”
On 22nd, he is meant to have breakfast with the Indian companies on inward investment to the UK, followed by an event with HR heads jointly hosted by Odgers Berndston India for delegates including professional qualification providers, and is also meant to call on EXIM bank. The Lord Mayor will also attend a roundtable organised by Confederation of Indian Industry on green finance, followed by a meeting with R Gandhi, the Deputy Governor of RBI and roundtable discussion on Fintech collaboration opportunities before he makes his way back to London.
Speaking excitedly about Green Finance and its opportunities, Mr Evans said, “There is a lot of potential in India, and there is a major initiative to be discussed. The British government could help international companies wanting to invest in India in this area, though nothing specific has been discussed as yet.
Britain would like to offer to put the right system and procedure to make this possible.”
UK is a global hub in the fast-growing green finance arena, according to a new report released recently by the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial system.
The report came as policymakers and financial institutions focussed on how to mobilise the capital required to implement Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change which were agreed last year. The City of London Corporation, is taking initiative to launch Green Finance with the aim of making London the world leader in green finance.
