Spice of India

After decades of British rule in India the last 50 years have been spent building an independent nation.

For much of this time a quasi-socialist approach had been adopted with the government retaining tight control over enterprise but since 1991 a series of significant changes in policy have helped transform the country into one of the world's fastest growing economies.

One consequence of these changes has been a significant upturn in inward investment and although some barriers to foreign ownership still exist these are frequently being revised.

In 2005 some $5.5 billion was invested in India by overseas companies a figure which had grown to $11 billion by the end of 2006 and although these sums may look modest when compared to the likes of China or Singapore there is a continuing demand by global companies to play their part in...