Business travel bookings from the UK to India in the financial services sector have fallen by a quarter in the past year, according to data provided by American Express Global Business Travel (GBT).
The data, which coincides with Prime Minister Theresa May’s trade visit to India, shows year-on-year business travel volumes from the UK are stable but bookings from the financial sector have fallen 26 per cent. The energy sector has seen a drop of 23 per cent, however professional services saw growth of 18 per cent year-on-year.
GBT, which manages more than $1 billion of UK business travel spend, compared transactions between September 2014 and August 2015 with those of September 2015 to August 2016, in order to identify year-on-year growth rates between the two countries.
Other trends identified by the data showed premium economy class booking rose 12 per cent year-on-year and economy class bookings 7 per cent year-on-year. In contrast, business class bookings fell by 8 per cent.
GBT general manager and VP Jason Geall said although travel volumes to India have remained stable, he expects this to increase in the future.
“As the Prime Minister leads a UK trade mission to India, we’re interested to note the industries that have increased their business travel to the country over the last year,” said Geall. “It is typical that, as financial services see decline, the need for lawyers and auditors increases.”
“There have historically been three main barriers to trade with India: firstly, it was seen as a complex marketplace, particularly in terms of taxation. However, from 2017 a new goods and services tax system will be introduced to replace regional levies and make India a single marketplace.
“Secondly, there have been concerns about national security – this is being addressed by India’s huge investment in modernising its defence apparatus, with its government setting aside $100 billion for defence in 2017, which will be of huge interest to UK-based defence companies.
“Finally, India has had a notoriously poor infrastructure. However, huge investment is being made in roads, railways, ports and airports, with billion-dollar deals already having been signed,” said Geall.
This week, PM May resisted calls to relax visa controls for Indian workers, insisting the UK already has a “good system” for applications.