The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Publishes New Research Mapping the Footprint of Indian Companies in the UK.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has published the second edition of Indian Roots, British Soil, a major study examining the growing contribution of Indian businesses to the UK economy. Produced ahead of the entry into force of the India–UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the report provides one of the most comprehensive assessments to date of Indian investment, business activity and employment across the United Kingdom.
The research identifies more than 3,000 Indian-owned business entities operating in the UK, spanning subsidiaries, branches, joint ventures and other corporate structures. This is a 33% increase over last year. Together, these businesses invested an estimated £18.18 billion across capital expenditure and research & development during 2024-2025, while continuing to expand their presence across sectors including technology, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, logistics and hospitality.
The report also documents the rapid expansion of bilateral trade. Since 2016, total UK–India trade has increased by 185%, while UK imports from India have grown by 181%, highlighting the increasingly important role India plays in the UK economy.
Research at a Scale Not Previously Possible
A significant component of the study was the identification and classification of thousands of Indian businesses operating across the UK, together with the analysis of investment activity spanning more than a decade. Glass.AI provided the AI capability that enabled much of this research.
Using our Transparent AI platform, Glass.AI analysed large volumes of company websites, official sources, news articles and other public evidence to identify Indian-owned businesses, classify their activities and build a detailed evidence base for the CII report. Rather than relying solely on existing business databases or surveys, the research combined multiple sources of verifiable evidence to produce a richer and more comprehensive picture of Indian business activity in the UK.
The same methodology also supported CII’s analysis of Indian private equity and venture capital investment into British companies. The report tracks more than £2.2 billion of investment across over 200 transactions between 2016 and 2026, identifying long-term shifts in sectors ranging from telecommunications and satellite communications to battery technology, biotechnology, software and artificial intelligence.
Supporting Evidence-Based Economic Research
Understanding the real economic footprint of international businesses is increasingly challenging. Company structures evolve rapidly, new firms emerge continuously, and traditional datasets or even Generative AI tools often struggle to capture these changes.
Glass.AI’s research capability enables organisations to build evidence-led datasets directly from the web, combining large-scale natural language understanding with transparent provenance. Every insight can be traced back to underlying evidence, allowing researchers to validate findings while working at a scale that would be impractical through manual research alone.
For organisations undertaking economic development, industrial strategy, trade policy or investment research, this approach provides both broader coverage and greater confidence in the resulting analysis.
A Growing India-UK Economic Relationship
The publication arrives at an important moment for the bilateral relationship. With the India–UK CETA entering into force, the report highlights how Indian companies have become deeply embedded across the British economy while identifying further opportunities for investment, innovation and collaboration.
For Glass.AI, the project demonstrates how Transparent AI can support major policy research by transforming millions of publicly available data points into structured, verifiable evidence that helps governments, industry organisations and researchers understand rapidly evolving economic landscapes.
For more information about this research, please visit the CII website here or contact us directly.