A HAMPSHIRE solicitor believes he has generated extra investment in the region after he met with influential business figures on a trade delegation to India.

Amarjit Singh of law firm Dutton Gregory accompanied David Cameron to India as one of 100 delegates vying to strengthen economic ties with the world’s largest democracy.

He met the head of Indian car company Tata, Ratan Tata, and the chief executive of Indian energy conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited, Mukesh Ambani.

During the three-day visit Mr Singh met with other business leaders and officials in Mumbai, Delhi and Amritsar on the largest trade mission of its kind to be sent anywhere in the world by a British Prime Minister.

“We met with a broad mix of people in India – government officials, people who work in key government departments, the British High Commissioner in India and his team of deputies.

“I met entrepreneurs and investors doing business of interested in entering the UK, they were ideal people for us to be meeting, not just for the Solent, but the UK too,” said Mr Singh adding they provided a wealth of contacts for the UK.

As Dutton Gregory’s head of India Business Group and the co-chairman of the Solent India Business Network, Mr Singh is widely regarded as an expert in facilitating business in both countries.

“Although we didn’t find any deals we generated some very credible enquiries and interest. We discussed some very interesting enquiries about how we can assist Indian businesses,” he added.

During the delegation’s visit Mr Singh advertised the Solent as one region in the UK which was ideally suited to help industry grow in the subcontinental nation.

“People say it is an emerging economy, I would say it is an emerged economy.

“And it has a middle class with more than 350 million people and a purchasing power that will increase. That’s larger than the EU.

“Can British businesses really afford to ignore that market? I think it represents a tremendous opportunity,” he said.

Mr Singh also had a meeting with Mr Cameron where they talked about how Hampshire was ideally suited to help Indian businesses set up in the UK.