Bengaluru: British Prime Minister Theresa May is wrapping up her three-day official visit to India by visiting Bengaluru on Tuesday. She is taking part in five events in the city.
Sixty-year-old May, who is on her first bilateral visit outside the European Union after assuming office in July, is expected to interact with top chief executives during her visit to the city. An Indo-British Small and Medium Enterprises delegation will meet Ms May after her luncheon meet with the CEOs.
She is also visiting Stonehill International School located on the outskirts of the city. All security arrangements have been made for her convoy to move smoothly through the city.
Her visit is clouded by her stand on foreign students in Britain. But her later statement that Diwali is part of UK's national life seems to have slightly taken the edge off that decision.
For the first time in 20 years, a UK Prime Minister will not visit Bengaluru’s famed software industry. This could be because of her government’s decision to tighten visa rules making it tougher for Indian IT professionals to work in Britain. The newly formed visa rules have a higher threshold for salaries and tougher language norms even for family members of visa holders.
Over the last 20 years, British Prime Ministers, including Mr John Major, Mr Tony Blair, Mr Gordon Brown and Mr David Cameron, have visited the campuses of either Infosys or Wipro and interacted with software professionals working in the city.
However, Ms May is visiting Dynamatics Technologies, which is an aerospace and hydraulic pumps manufacturer that runs three factories in the UK and helps generate jobs for the local community there.
