Indian Companies Expand Footprint in UK Tech Sector: Bharti Group Acquires Stake in British Telecom

Bharti Group acquire 24.5% stake in British Telecom: Other UK-based tech firms acquired by Indian companies - Times of India

Sunil Bharti Mittal's conglomerate has announced that it will buy a stake in BT Group for about $4 billion to become the single largest shareholder in Britain's biggest broadband and mobile company. Bharti Global, the international investment arm of Bharti Enterprises, will buy a 9.99 per cent stake in BT Group from Patrick Drahi's Altice immediately and purchase the remainder after it secures the necessary regulatory approvals, the company said in a statement. It, however, did not disclose financial details but market watchers say that the deal is in the ballpark range of $4 billion.Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said, "We got this opportunity to buy a very important block of shares. It is very difficult and hard to buy such stock in the market. It takes a long period of time and there are uncertainties of pricing... here was a block with a willing seller (Altice UK) who moved in to make this offer and we quickly decided to take the same." Bharti, India's second-largest telecom operator with about 400 million subscribers, has had a relationship with BT previously as well. BT owned a 21 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel from 1997 to 2001. The company also made it clear that Bharti is neither keen on making an offer to acquire the whole of BT nor seeking a board position for now. Bharti Group is not the first company to take a majority stake in a British company. Research by Grant Thornton found that there were 971 Indian-owned companies in the UK in 2024, up from 954 in 2023. Here is a look at British technology companies owned by Indian companies. Reliance Industries acquired battery technology company Faradion Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd bought British battery technology company Faradion Ltd for $135 million in 2021. Ina statement, RIL said the acquisition will help secure India's energy storage requirements for its large renewable energy and fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) charging market. "This will further strengthen and build upon our ambition to create one of the most advanced and integrated New Energy ecosystems and put India at the forefront of leading battery technologies," said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd. Ambani added the deal means that RNESL will work with Faradion and accelerate its plans to commercialise the technology through building integrated and end-to-end giga scale manufacturing in India. Wipro acquired Capco in March 2021 Indian IT company Wipro acquired Capco, a UK-based management consultancy firm in a $1.45 billion deal in March 2021. Wipro acquired the London-based global management and tech consultancy company to bolster its presence in the banking, financial services & insurance (BFSI) space. The deal, which is Wipro's largest acquisition ever, also gives the Indian tech services giant a strong consulting footprint. Wipro acquired UK-based Infocrossing for $600 million in 2007 Wipro acquired UK-based Infocrossing for $600 million in an all-cash deal in the year 2007. This was then the company's biggest buyout till date, and the largest for the Indian IT industry. It was Wipro's 12th acquisition in the IT space. Infocrossing was into infrastructure management solutions, including server management, mainframe outsourcing, network management and security services. India's Essar owns UK's EET Fuels EET FUELS, formerly Essar (Oil) UK Ltd, which focuses on decarbonisation efforts in the UK, is owned by Indian conglomerate Essar Group. Essar Group has formed the Essar Energy Transition (EET) to drive the creation of the UK's leading energy transition hub in north-west England. EET plans to invest a total of $3.6 billion (€3.4 billion) in developing a range of low carbon energy transition projects over the next five years across its site at Stanlow. The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.

Bharti's BT stake acquisition just the latest. Indian businesses are increasingly investing in UK

Looked at from the other side, of all the investment projects in the UK, India was the second largest source of FDI projects. This provides some context for India's Bharti Enterprises -- the parent firm of telco Bharti Airtel -- last week announcing the acquisition of a 24.5percent stake in Britain's largest broadband and mobile company BT Group worth 3.2 billion pounds ($4 billion). Interestingly, BT had held a 21 percent stake in Bharti Airtel between 1997 and 2001. During April 2022 to July 2024, the latest period for which there is data, the cumulative ODI in the UK stood at $5.6 billion, which is 17 percent of the total $32.9 billion of ODI made during that period. This is compared to ODI of $2.7 billion to the UK in the 2017-19 period, which was 8.9 percent of the total ODI from India during that period. With its latest acquisition, Bharti joins the likes of Tata Group, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Welspun in acquiring stake in British firms. In February 2000, the Tata Group pulled off what was then "the biggest acquisition in Indian corporate history" when it acquired popular tea brand Tetley for 271 million pounds. Other Tata Group companies, too, turned to the UK later, with Tata Steel in 2007 acquiring Corus, then Britain's largest steelmaker, and Tata Motors announcing the completion of the acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover in 2008. Other major acquisitions by Indian companies include, Welspun India Ltd acquiring 85 percent share in CHT Holdings Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra acquisition of two-wheeler maker BSA Company, TVS Motor Company's acquisition of Norton Motorcycles, Eicher Motors acquisition of Royal Enfield, Wipro's acquisition of management consultancy firm Capco, Reliance New Energy Solar's acquisition of battery technology company Faradion, and Reliance Brands' acquisition of Hamleys. "In the vast majority of cases, Indian investments into the UK have been a huge success and those investments continue to grow. Some things are cyclical, for instance Tata Motors' acquisition of JLR. The success of investments also depends on how global markets are and also on the profitability of that business," UK India Business Council (UKIBC) managing director Kevin Cole told ThePrint. He added that while Indian companies often prefer the acquisition route in the manufacturing sector, they seem to be setting up their own offices/subsidiaries in the services sector. Also Read: OP Jindal wanted to be a wrestler. Then he saw steel pipes marked with 'made in England' According to a June report by accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton, a record 971 Indian-owned companies were operating in the UK in 2024, up from 954 in 2023, with combined revenues of 68.09 billion pounds, a strong increase on the 50.5 billion pounds reported in 2023. The technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) sector remains the top largest sector in terms of the number of companies (27 percent), followed by manufacturing and engineering (20 percent), pharmaceuticals and chemicals (16 percent), hospitality and leisure (10 percent), and automotive (7 percent). The report also noted that in 2023, India was the source of 118 FDI projects in the UK, creating 8,384 new jobs, according to figures from The Department for Business and Trade. "This is the second year in a row that India has been the second largest source of FDI projects in the UK after the United States," it said. Cole added, "If we were to look at the Government of India's data of outflows of FDI from 2000 to July 2024, we see that the UK is 6 percent with a cumulative amount of $19,230 million and is the fifth largest recipient of Indian investment overseas." For this period, Singapore accounted for 20 percent of the cumulative investment amount, followed by Mauritius (13 percent), the US (12 percent), and the Netherlands (8 percent). "And for just the last two years, April 2022- July 2024, we see the UK is at 14 percent, only behind Singapore and the US. We see this as a very healthy sign of Indian businesses growing in the UK," he said. Cole, however, added that official data only tells part of the story. "Countries ahead of the UK include Singapore, Mauritius and the Netherlands and that is because of the taxation structures in place there," he explained "So, the investments are going through Mauritius and through Singapore and through the Netherlands, but they don't stay there. Much of that is also coming to the UK. Official stats do not show that." He added that recently it is being seen that there is a lot of investment to and fro between Dubai and India. "But again a lot of investment is flowing from India to Dubai and from there to the UK, or from the UK to Dubai and to India. So official stats only give part of the picture," he said. On the reasons for the UK being an attractive destination for Indian firms, Cole said, in recent years, Indian companies - both big companies as well as start-ups -- are looking to the UK for talent and technology. "Indian companies that want to enter global supply chains or they want to compete globally, need the best of technology and the UK has got that reputation. That has been a big draw factor for major companies as well as Indian start-ups. I think that technology is a major element. One of the sources of UK technology is the university ecosystem. And Indian companies are doing collaborative R&D with UK universities," he explained. The Grant Thornton report noted that the Indian diaspora in the UK has been described as a 'living bridge' between the two countries and that bridge is the most likely reason both nations will continue to benefit from a mutually supportive and enduring partnership. Linguistic and political ties and a diaspora embedded in local culture mean the UK continues to hold powerful appeal for Indian investors, it said, adding that the successful conclusion of negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) could add a new layer of prosperity for both countries. The report added that despite the continued growth in Indian investment, there are certain concerns, including UK's stringent KYC requirements that can delay the process of incorporation in the UK and sometimes act as a deterrent to investing in the UK; increase in corporation tax from 19 percent to 25 percent, making doing business more expensive; and the "high" increase in minimum wage for ICT that is making it difficult to bring in talent to address the shortage in tech skills (especially in AI) in the UK. Intra-Company Transfer visas enable overseas workers to transfer to a branch or subsidiary of their UK employer. Cole added that for India investments in the UK, the challenge that needs to be overcome is really of perception. "Over the last seven or eight years, because of the Brexit referendum, and the political uncertainty since 2016-17, leading to economic uncertainty, people have been looking at the UK and thinking it's not so hot anymore. Actually, the reality on the ground is very different. Indian companies revenues growing from 50 billion pound to 68 billion pound over a 12-month period show that," he said. "The future direction I really think is in the area of technology with Indian tech hungry companies looking for partners in the UK, whether it is JVs or acquisitions or collaborative R&D. I spoke to technologically advanced companies in Bengaluru during my visit in July and they are looking at the UK to find JV partners or acquisition targets that will embed themselves further into European and North American supply chains," he added.