A LEADING engineering company based in Wotton-under-Edge has joined the Deputy Prime Minister on a trade mission to India.

Renishaw took part in a trade delegation to India from Bank Holiday Monday to Wednesday, August led by Nick Clegg.

The company is being represented by general manager Rhydian Pountney, from the sales division, who received the invitation to attend the delegation in a personal letter from Mr Clegg.

The 40-strong trade delegation aims to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the new Indian government’s focus on economic growth and includes major British businesses from the retail, aerospace and education sectors, who will be signing deals and exploring new opportunities with their Indian counterparts.

Renishaw has been trading in India since 1983 and after establishing a representative office in Bangalore in 1993, converted this to a wholly owned trading subsidiary in 2000.

Today the company has regional offices in five cities, plus resident sales engineers in other key areas.

In recent years Renishaw has accelerated its investments in India and today employs over 250 people within its various business operations.

In 2011 it opened a 4,875 square metre extension to its Pune facility which represented a near trebling of space at the site, all intended to meet the long-term growth needs for the company’s Indian operations in terms of product assembly, software development, sales & marketing, and customer support.

Renishaw is part of the delegation focused on the aerospace sector and speaking at the GREAT Business Conference in New Delhi on 25 August 2014, the Deputy Prime Minister said, “As the leader in the global aerospace industry, the UK can also help India strengthen its lead in this valuable market.

“Our aerospace industry - which comprises big names like Rolls Royce, BAE systems, Airbus and Cobham and smaller companies such Group Rhodes, Renishaw and logistics company Patton Air – produces and supplies some of the most pioneering aircraft components in the world.”

Rhydian Pountney, who co-chairs the Advanced Manufacturing Group of the India-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO), said, “It is a great honour to be invited to attend this mission and comes at a time that Renishaw is making further investments in India that will be announced by the Deputy Prime Minister during the week.

“Today we employ over 250 staff in India which includes five sales offices supporting our expanding customer base, plus product assembly and software development at our large facility in Pune.”

The Renishaw Group currently has operations in 32 countries, with total employee numbers now over 3,500.

For the year ending June 2014, worldwide sales totalled £355.5 million.

In the UK it has over 2,300 staff including almost 2,000 staff at its five sites in Gloucestershire and 130 staff at its large facility to the west of Cardiff.