What goes around does indeed come around:

Four hundred years ago, British capital began to flow into India. The East India Company was created and the foundations of the empire were laid.

But over the last ten years, the opposite has occurred. Capital is beginning to flow in earnest in the other direction. Tata Group; a conglomerate with a variety of interests from tea to steel to engineering; has spent in excess of $15 billion buying up British companies. Moreover, the companies were recognised brands such as Jaguar, Corus and Tetley Tea. Incredibly, Tata is now Britain’s biggest industrial employer.

As with other rising emerging-market giants, Indian tycoons are seeking to build global businesses rather than simply regional ones. Political instability in home markets is an important factor, as well as the ability to buy expertise and skills to produce higher quality products.

A number of additional reasons have been cited for Britain’s success. The fact that it is relatively easy for foreign companies to take over British concerns is one; globally recognisable brands and expertise are others. Britain’s imperial past coupled with its commercial reach ensures that brands carry prestige among consumers the world over. Easy access to the City of London is also a boon for companies looking to access global capital markets.

There is an inherent wariness about foreign takeovers, but companies like Tata have shown that they have not come to close factories and move production and machinery back to their home markets. Tata has succeeded in making Jaguar and Land Rover profitable; something Ford or BMW could not achieve.

It is no secret that Britain needs the cash at the moment, and politically, manufacturing jobs have played a vital role over the past few decades. So Britain is unlikely to turn up its nose at its colonial pupils teaching the old Imperial Master a thing or two, any time soon.