British Midland, a UK government-funded organisation, dedicated to attracting international businesses to the region comprising East Midlands and West Midlands, is eyeing around 40 investors from India across various sectors in the next three years.

East Midlands Development Agency’s Director David Wallace said,”We are looking at investors especially in sectors such as automotive, aero-space, transport technology and IT among others,” .

It is more advisable to invest in Midland rather than in London as property prices are lesser by 50 % and labour costs are lesser by 25 % than London, he said.

Moreover, the manufacturing base has all international operations besides availability of skill-sets, he said.

Commenting on China, he said that significant investments were not expected from the country in the region in the next three to four years, although it is considered as an important destination. “Our focus on China has been more on trade and business than on investment into our region,” he said.

Some important Indian companies that have invested in the British Midlands are Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Brunton Shaw UK Limited among others, he said.

“Signs of a slight slowdown in decision-making in investments will be witnessed in the coming years due to the US recession and credit crunch,” he said.

It would be a global phenomenon as investors would be careful about investing, he added.