London, Jul 11 (PTI) A senior official from the City of London Corporation, or the financial hub of the UK capital, will arrive in Mumbai on Tuesday for a high-level visit to discuss two-way investment flows and sustainable finance.

Chris Hayward, who took over as the new Policy Chairman at the corporation in May, is familiar with India as a businessman who led business interests in Hyderabad over the years. During the course of his five-year term as the de facto political leader of the City of London Corporation, the official hopes to enhance capital flows in both directions and the presence of Indian companies operating in London.

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“The visit to Mumbai is about me having a series of high-level meetings with Indian businesses and above all, around the theme of sustainable investment,” Hayward told PTI on the eve of his visit.

“My priorities in terms of the relationship with India are about three key areas – infrastructure and how we can ensure a step change into sustainable global investment into India's transition and to match India's net zero ambitions.

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"Second is around regulation, in financial and professional services in particular, ensuring that our systems are inter-operable and the capital can flow both ways. And, the third and final one is investment, not just one way but both ways, including through the development of India's capital markets,” he said.

Hayward said he remained hopeful that the free trade agreement (FTA) being negotiated between India and the UK would meet the Diwali timeline, with a keen eye on the financial services sector.

“I think one of the challenges with FTAs for us across the world is that they tend to be more focussed on goods than they are on services. There is a clearly growing and expanding financial professional services sector in India and in the City of London, we are still a global capital for financial and professional services. So our focus will be on how the FTA provides a greater working relationship to trade with each other through that sector,” the business and policy chief said.

“One of the factors that also interests me is the fact that Indian companies that invest in the United Kingdom support no less than 95,000 jobs here. So, there is for us a real interest in the jobs and skills market around that Indian investment. It's really hugely supportive of our economy,” he said.

With reference to the political upheaval at the heart of the UK government following the resignation of Boris Johnson and a race now on to replace him as prime minister, Hayward said the City of London hopes for a smooth transition and for the relationship with India to be further strengthened under a new Tory leader.

“What we look for on the back of this change of Prime Minister is continuity and stability in our relationships with government ministers and we hope for a smooth transition with the new ministers that are coming in with the new leader,” he said.

“In the City of London, we continue in the sense of business as usual and in terms of our relationship with India, that doesn't change anything. This is an important year because it is the 75th anniversary of India's independence. And that's part of the reason behind my India visit too. So, we just hope that the transition will be swift and effective,” Hayward added.

The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the financial hub of the UK capital known as the Square Mile and has had a representative office in Mumbai since 2007 to enable long-term relationship building with financial sector stakeholders across India.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)