LONDON: Indian companies are still investing in the UK in droves, though the action seems to have moved to the medium and small sector. India retains its position as the second highest foreign employer in the UK, after the US, according to the 2009 UK inward FDI official data.

This year, Indian inward investors created 4,149 new jobs, with 108 new projects, up 44% in the absolute number of projects. Indians account for 11% of new jobs created by foreigners in 2008-09, out of around 35,000 new jobs.

Indians have been responsible for 7,966 British jobs in 2008-09, including ‘safeguarded’ as in jobs protected by the entry of foreign employers, at a time when the UK jobless figures peaked at over 2 million for May.

Last year, however, thanks to the mega Tata deals, India created over 19,000 British jobs, with just 75 new projects. While the number of projects has risen, the sizes have dropped. The US, still the largest inward investor in the UK, set up 621 new projects this year, but employed only 12,888 new people. It had created over 29,000 jobs last year, with only 478 new projects.

Indian investment into the UK, which measures FDI in terms of the number of jobs created and protected and not absolute value, has exponentially gone up in the recent past, rising from an almost non-existent base of 892 jobs in 2003-2004 to about 37,664 over the past few years.

India also replaced Japan as the largest Asian supplier of FDI projects this year, with significant investments in IT, life sciences and advanced engineering. Biocon established its European HQ in the UK and Dr. Reddy’s acquired a clinical trials unit.