India is changing. The British government's recent decision to halt financial aid to the country by 2015 was certainly controversial, but it marks a monumental step in the UK’s relationship with its former colony, which is now the second most populous country in the world with one of the fastest growing economies.
It's hardly surprising that the British government sees trade, rather than aid, as the future for their relationship with India: the latter's economy has grown rapidly since 1991's liberalisation opened the country up to foreign markets, and is now the tenth largest in the world.
Despite a recent slow-down in India’s growth, the country has weathered the recession relatively well and continuing foreign investment has meant that cities such as Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bangalore are becoming home to more and more expats. Increased demand from our clients has demonstrated to SilverDoor that at this pivotal time, it's vital to organise a trip to India and our International Partner Relations & Rates Manager, Paddy Hegan, will fly over on 20th November.
He says: “My trip will allow SilverDoor to better understand the serviced apartment market and gain an appreciation of how to prepare the average business traveller heading to India.
“Compared to hotels, the serviced apartment market is in its infancy in India but we have repeated demand for this country and we want to ensure we find the best options for our clients in terms of quality, management and value for money. I'm keen to get to India and meet our current property partners as well as hopefully finding some new ones as yet undiscovered.”
Paddy will visit the Indian cities for which we’ve experienced the most demand. He'll fly into Mumbai, the birthplace of Bollywood and now a monster metropolis (it’s the fourth most populous city in the world), where he'll stay for two full days. He'll then visit Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, the centres of India’s booming electronics industry, before heading to the capital, Delhi and squeezing in a visit to the majestic Taj Mahal in Agra.
On his return he'll report back to SilverDoor staff on his impressions of each city, the property partners he met and the apartments he visited.
