EU referendum: British-Indian business leaders issue open letter warning against a Brexit

More than 80 British-Indian business leaders have signed a letter outlining the benefits of the UK's membership in the European Union. The letter was organised by the "British Indians for IN" group, a cross-party campaign of parliamentarians seeking to keep Britain in the EU when the referendum takes place on 23 June.

The letter emphasised that despite arguments made by the Leave campaign that a Brexit would increase trade with countries such as India, they did not believe this would be the case. Instead, the signatories noted that Britain is a strong economic partner with India because of their membership in the EU.

MP Alok Sharma, coordinator of the campaign and the Prime Minister's Infrastructure Envoy to India, said: "Brexit will have the double whammy effect of not only hitting UK businesses but also impacting on inward investment.

"Indian companies have informed me that some decisions on future investments into the UK have been deferred until the outcome of the referendum is known and, if we vote to leave the EU, there is a big risk that Indian companies will think twice before investing in the UK."

The letter - signed by British-Indian business leaders - stressed that one of the key reasons why Britain is an attractive destination for inward overseas investment is because it is seen as a gateway to the European Single market of 500 million people. This view was echoed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said last week that the UK is India's "gateway to Europe" and offered his support for a "strong and united Europe".

The latest report from the British government on India, published in June 2015, noted that it was the third largest source of foreign direct investment for the UK. The Director of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Pratik Dattani, acknowledged the negative effect a Brexit would have on FDI.

Dattani said: "The UK is the most important market in Europe for Indian FDI, and Indian companies have created more jobs in Britain than any other Asian country in 2015. A Brexit could cause uncertainty for FDI, immigration and trade relations between the two strong partners."

In contrast with the concerns aired by a number of British-Indians, UK Employment Minister and David Cameron's Indian diaspora champion said that a Brexit would "boost UK-India relations". Priti Patel believes that trading links with India would improve when the UK was "not held back by the vested self-interests of the EU".

However, Commonwealth Minister Hugo Swire hit out at Patel and others on 20 May, insisting that India would not benefit if the UK leaves the EU. He said: "There has been a creeping narrative promoted by the Brexiteers that somehow the Commonwealth can replace the EU as the UK's trading bloc partner. My argument is that it is an erroneous leap of faith to take. This is all based on imagination, rather than reality."

The signatories to the letter included:

• Mr Sumit Agarwal, Founder & Managing Partner, DNS Associates Ltd
• Mr Vivek Agarwal, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Strand of Silk Ltd
• Mr JP Agrawal, Managing Director and Founder, Derivatives Value Advisors
• Mr Rajesh Agrawal, Founder & Chairman, RationalFX
• Mr Sats Ahluwalia, Group Managing Director, Mulberry Care Group
• Mrs Pavan Ahluwalia, Chief Executive Officer, Pavan Henna Artist Limited
• Mr Neeraj Arora, Executive Vice President and Head of International Business, Sony Entertainment Television (supporting in a personal capacity)
• Mr Suneel Bakhshi, Chief Executive Officer, LCH (supporting in a personal capacity)
• Mr Amit Bhatia, Chairman, Hope Construction Materials
• Mr Raj Bhatt, Vice Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Elara Capital PLC
• Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL, (supporting in a personal capacity)
• Mr Jigs Chana, Director, Cameo Properties Development Ltd
• Mr Prem Chander, Chief Executive Officer, London Energy Trading Ltd
• Mr Nitin Dahad, Founder, Techspark Limited
• Mr Pratik Dattani, Director – UK, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
• Mr Sudhir Dhanani, Director, Clearconsult Management Limited
• Mr Uday Dholakia OBE, Senior Partner, Global Consulting UK Ltd
• Ms Rupa Ganatra, Founding Partner, Millennial 20/20 Ltd
• Mr Ravi Gidar, Director, Gold Care Homes
• Mr Ram Gidoomal CBE, Chairman, Dulas Ltd
• Mr Harminder Gill, Managing Director, Gillcrest Homes
• Mr, Vijay Goel, Partner, Singhania & Co
• Mr Raj Gupta, Director, Heathfield House Nursing Homes Ltd
• Mr Arif Hussein, Director, Homebound UK Ltd (t/a Brockley Consulting)
• Mr Jayesh Jotangia, Barrister at 33 Bedford Row
• Mr Surjit Jutla, Director, Euro-Link Property Management Services Ltd
• Miss Bhavini Kalaria, Managing Director, The London Law Practice Ltd
• Dr Sanjeev Kanoria, Chairman, Advinia Health Care Limited
• Dr Mohan Kaul, Vice Chairman, Indo-UK Institute of Health
• Mr Sid Khemka, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Konnect Digital Limited
• Ms Mani Kohli, Founder/Designer, Khubsoorat UK Ltd
• Mr Saran Kohli, Director, Mani Kohli's UK Ltd
• Ms Preema Kohli-Verma, Chief Executive Officer, Preema International Limited
• Mr Salil Kumar, Director, Asset India Ltd
• Mr Anil Kumar, Chairman, Ransat Group
• Mr Manoj Ladwa, Chief Executive, India Inc Ltd
• Professor Kartar Lalvani OBE, Chairman, Vitabiotics Ltd
• Dr Gurmit Mahay, GP, Poplars Medical Practice
• Mr Andeep Mangal, Director, Thapers Chartered Accountants
• Mr Tony Matharu, Managing Director, Grange Hotels (supporting in a personal capacity)
• Mr Sukhdev Mattu, Chief Executive Officer, Chartwell Private Hospital
• Dr Ravi Mehrotra CBE, Executive Chairman, Foresight Ltd
• Mr Rahul Mehta, Founder, ViCos Ltd
• Mr Ketan Mehta, Managing Director, Necessity Supplies Ltd
• Mr Vish Mehta, Group Director, MiCasa Group
• Mr Anirudh Misra, Director, International Metallurgical Resources Ltd
• Mr Jagdish Nagrecha, Director, Crane International Limited
• Mr Rajay Naik, Chief Executive Officer - Europe, Keypath Education
• Mr Manoj Nair, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Redgirraffe.com
• Mr Ashok Rabheru CVO DL, Chairman, Genisys Group
• Mr Ravi Pandey, Managing Director, Rolta UK Ltd
• Ms Chanda Pandya, Brand Director, Rossana UK Ltd
• Ms Parita Patel, Director, Uniflora Limited
• Mr Guppy Patel, Director, Xoocafe Limited
• Mr Ashok Patel, Director, TNV Construction Ltd
• Mr Hiren Patel, Project Architect, Black Elephant ID Studio Ltd
• Mr Vikkas Puri, Director, Sunrise Developers Limited
• Mr Thembalath Ramachandran, Chairman & Managing Director, Bristol Laboratories Ltd
• Mr Arun Raman, Chief Executive Officer, Helm Natural Resources Ltd
• Lord Diljit Rana MBE, Managing Director, Andras House Ltd
• Mr Rami Ranger CBE, Chairman, Sunmark Ltd
• Mr Yoganathan Ratheesan, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Lebara Group
• Mr Abhishek Sachdev, Managing Director, Vedanta Hedging Limited
• Mr Paul Sagoo, Founder, Asian Awards Ltd
• Mr Girish Sanger, Director, Mastcraft Ltd
• Mr Nimesh Sanghrajka, Director, Mantra Consultancy & Capital Limited
• Mr Gurvinder Sethi, Director, Flavors of India Ltd
• Mr Pravin Shah, Director, Levershire Limited
• Mr Shamir Shah, Director, Icone-International Ltd
• Mr Pradip Sharma, Pradicorp UK Ltd
• Ms Kavita Sharma, Chief Executive, Indo British Business Forum
• Mr Anil Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Kinedexe UK Ltd
• Ms Sangeeta Sidhu-Robb, Chief Executive Officer & Founder, Nosh Detox Delivery Ltd
• Mr Amarjit Singh, Chief Executive Officer, India Business Consultancy Limited (t/a The India Business Group)
• Mr Ajaya Sodha, Director, Arma Properties UK Ltd
• Mr Jay Tahasildar, Director, Mercurius IT Limited
• Mr Ranjit Thaker, Director, Thaker Acquisitions Ltd
• Mr Subhash Thakrar, Partner, CBW Partners
• Mr Manish Tiwari, Managing Director, Here&Now365 Ltd
• Mr Madhava Turumella, Chief Executive Officer, Cove Venture Ltd
• Mr Danesh Varma, Director, Global Preservation Strategies Limited