I’ll break down doors for London business, says Boris Johnson as he flies to India

 
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Pippa Crerar23 November 2012
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Boris Johnson will fly to India tomorrow on a trade mission that he hopes will “break down doors” for London businesses.

The Mayor will travel to Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai on the week-long trip and meet politicians and business leaders.

His packed itinerary, released today, reveals visits to airports, temples and new underground metro systems, as well as speeches on higher education and the global economy.

A series of high-powered business events and a visit to the Bombay Stock Exchange also feature. He will see a slum project in Mumbai, meet Bollywood producers and appear on national television.

Mr Johnson has even found time to meet the England cricket team to give them a morale boost as they enter the second leg of their Indian tour.

The Mayor will be accompanied by captains of industry including the bosses of Standard Life, Berkeley Homes, John Lewis, Blackstone financial services and Serco India. The chairman of Film London, movie producer David Parfitt, and London Underground’s director of capital programmes, David Waboso, are also going.

Executives from Deloitte, KPMG and British Airways will join the Mayor as he travels round the country. However, Mr Johnson denied that the trip was a Prime Ministerial-style venture that would be more appropriate for David Cameron or William Hague.

“No, it’s definitely not. It is my job. They know it’s going on and of course it’s supported by the Government. We’re there to bat for Britain as well as for London,” he told the Standard.

“The real reason is that it’s something business always asks you to do. It’s one of those things they all say is valuable to them. They always say London must be represented. We do want you to help build contacts, break down doors. There are huge opportunities. Although it seems obvious, unless you get out there and see what potential there is, you’ll never really know.”

He laughed away suggestions that he would be mobbed by hordes of adoring fans after his global profile was boosted by the Olympics and claimed that “blissful anonymity” would descend.

Mr Johnson has attacked former Labour mayor Ken Livingstone for extravagant trips to India, China and Cuba and two years ago he mothballed City Hall’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai. But he said: “I do think it is important to build relations but if you look at the respective costs to the Greater London Authority of the operations they are very different.

“My opposition was to spending a lot on PR consultants to handle the whole thing and chorus lines of bowler hatted beefeaterettes or whatever the hell it was. We’re not doing that. We’re doing a much more economical version.”

He promised he would “look again” at the decision to close the GLA’s Indian offices but added: “I’m not guaranteeing I’m going to reopen them. Our impression was that you could do it in a more cost effective way. What they want is engagement with London business people and this kind of mission.” Mr Johnson agreed Britain had a “special relationship” with India but said it would be a “mistake” to “bang on” about our shared history.

“It’s the things we can do together now that are important. But you cannot make any presumptions about any foreign market these days. We’d be mad to be complacent or to think we have got some special hold on the affections of people in India just because of a shared language, that’s just not how it works.

“They’re going to see what we’ve got to offer and see what we’ve got to sell and see where the opportunities are. People are very hard headed. I’m not certain that sentiment counts for an awful lot,” he said.

Mr Johnson, whose wife Marina is half Indian, has visited family there four or five times. He revealed that his favourite curry houses in London are Raj Moni and Gufaa in Upper Street in Islington.

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