London: A group of NRIs have come together to set up a company with the purpose of planning and promoting India-related events in UK, with the two-day Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas being their first assignment. The company, NRI UK Limited, is set up under charitable status and is looking forward to organize more NRI related functions after successfully organizing the Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (RPBD) along with the Indian high commission here and ministry of external affairs in New Delhi. "The success of this event has given us a lot of confidence. NRIs living in the UK have been awakened with the hope of doing something meaningful for India and the credit goes to the minister (Sushma Swaraj) whose speech really moved each one of us," said NRI hotelier Joginder Sanger, who spearheaded the new organisation. "This company will have a charitable status and we hope to be involved in all NRI functions associated with the Indian high commission and/or the Indian government, across any location in the UK.
Almost 11 of us make up the board of directors and each has contributed generously to the fund," he added. At the inauguration of the RPBD, Swaraj had made a passionate call for non-resident Indians to come and invest in India. "I am confident that we have achieved our objective of reaching out to those members of the community who have been unable to participate in the annual PBD in India and provide a platform for the Indian community in the UK and Europe to contribute to the relationship between countries of the region and India," said Vijay Goel, chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce Asian Business Association and chief coordinator for RPBD 2014. The event, attended by around 1,000 people on its opening day, included panel discussions across a range of issues such as infrastructure, energy and climate change as well as the role of social media in uniting the Indian diaspora. Senior Indian-origin Labour MP and chair of the home affairs select committee Keith Vaz made a plea in his address for India and the UK to consider a reciprocal reduction in visa fees, an issue that was raised by a number of delegates.
