Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London officially announced the opening of ‘The London India Office’ in Delhi (19 November) to promote business, culture and tourism between the two cities. He then went on to open another office in Mumbai (22 November 2007) appointing Divya Dwivedi, who will be the Mayor’s representative in Delhi and Rohit Manchanda as the representative in Mumbai. The Indian offices will promote London as a place to visit, study and invest and provide Indians with the opportunity to experience what London has to offer.

The Mayor Ken Livingstone said: “India is an economic superpower, with a growth rate of over 9% a year. Its tourism industry is also growing rapidly – in 2006, 230,000 Indians came to London, spending £152 million overtaking Japan and making them the biggest spenders from the Asian market. Indian students are also flocking to London to study, with numbers doubling from 2,190 in 2001 to 4,320 in 2005. London’s largest minority ethnic community is Indians and 10,000 Indian-owned businesses have based themselves in the UK capital.

“We want more people from India to make London their first choice for visiting, studying or locating a business."

The Mayor opened the new offices as part of his official week-long visit to India entitled “London-India: Partners in Globalisation”, to promote London as a destination for business, tourism, studying and creative industries and to strengthen relationships between London and India.

The offices have been planned and created in partnership with the London Development Agency, which promotes business in London for the Mayor, Think London, which promotes foreign direct investment into London, and Visit London, which promotes tourism in the UK capital city. All partners will work together to provide a coordinated service from the office in order to deliver clear and shared messages on London.