Jaitley opens London Stock Exchange in a special ceremony

The Dollar Business Bureau

In a special ceremony, Arun Jaitley Minister of Finance of India opened the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and and later had a discussion with the investors on the role of UK in developing the fin-tech ecosystem of India and in delivering priorities forits development. The event was attended by Liam Fox, Minister for International Trade of UK.

After the ceremony, Nikhil Rathi, CEO of LSE, hosted a roundtable session with Arun Jaitley, representatives from FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry), fin-tech firms and major investors.

“They discussed London's significant role as a partner to India, supporting the country to develop its fin-tech ecosystem and deliver key Indian priorities like infrastructure development, sustainable energy investment and the growth of smart cities,” according to a statement by LSE.

Describing the India-UK partnership as hugely important, Fox said that India is now the 3rd biggest investor and 2nd biggest creator of jobs in the UK. On the other hand, UK is the biggest investor in India from G -20 nations and plays a vital role in developing skills in India’s workforce.

“The Government of UK is committed to further strengthening this relationship and in my initial months as the Secretary of State for International Trade, I found myself lucky for visiting India two times – recently with Prime Minister Theresa May on her first bilateral trip outside the Europe,” he added.

Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s description of the relations between India and the UK as ‘unbeatable partnership’, Rathi said that the second visit of Jaitley to the UK in one year highlights the success of the financial and business partnership between the two countries and builds on latest landmark visits of Theresa May to India and Narendra Modi to the UK.

“With the depth, multicurrency, liquidity and profile of the markets of London, along with the fact that UK has been the biggest G-20 investor in India, LSE is ideally suitable for partnership with India in the growth story to deliver major priorities of India such as infrastructure development, growth of smart cities and sustainable energy investment,” he said.