British Minister Hugo Swire Says India Needs to Resolve Delayed Payment Issue and Send Right Signals to Potential Investors Before PM Modi's UK Visit

British Minister Hugo Swire Says India Needs to Resolve Delayed Payment Issue and Send Right Signals to Potential Investors Before PM Modi's UK Visit

NEW DELHI, October 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --



- SIS Live and its 5-year Long Struggle to Recover its Dues for Delhi CWG Television
Coverage 



- British Lawmaker Robertson Raises Issue of Non-payment of Dues in House of Commons



Speaking in the House of Commons earlier this week, British Minister of State for
Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Hugo Swire expressed his hope that the issue of the GBP29
million owed to British company SIS in connection with its broadcast contract for the 2010
Commonwealth Games in Delhi would be resolved before Indian Prime Minister Modi arrives in
London in mid-November.



He was responding to a Parliamentary Question by influential British conservative MP
Laurence Robertson, asking "what recent discussions he has had with the Government of
India on outstanding payments due to British companies for work carried out during the
2010 Commonwealth Games."



The Minister replied that "in the case of SIS Live, the British High Commission in New
Delhi has provided consistent support to the company and urged the Government of India to
resolve the dispute over payment," adding that he had personally raised the matter with
the Indian High Commissioner "just yesterday, and we will continue to press for a
satisfactory settlement".



Mr Robertson stressed that "SIS Live is a perfectly respectable British company which
fully delivered on its commitments in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games," and asked the
Minister if he agreed "that the outstanding debt of GBP29 million should be paid to SIS
Live in advance of the Indian Prime Minister's visit to this country later this year."



Responding positively, Mr Swire made it clear that the British Government was very
aware of the broader implications of an unpaid debt of this nature: "Yes, we very much
hope this will be resolved before Prime Minister Modi comes here shortly. Bilateral trade
with India is extremely good, but what is important is the signal this matter sends to
other potential British companies looking to invest in India. So we do want it resolved."



SIS Chief Executive Gary Smith commented, "We are very grateful for the consistent
support we have received over the past five years from the British Government. The
conditions under which we had to operate for the Delhi Games were notoriously difficult,
but we delivered internationally acclaimed broadcast coverage of the very highest standard,
on time and within budget. Five years have passed, and we are still waiting to be paid.
This is obviously very serious for SIS, but, as the Minister said, what's important is the
signal this sends to other British companies thinking of doing business with India. What
has happened to SIS is no secret. If it can happen to us, it can happen to anyone else. We
are very encouraged that the new Indian Government under Prime Minister Modi has adopted a
much more positive attitude towards international business, and we are hopeful that his
visit to the UK may cause action to be taken to resolve this damaging situation. This is
not the kind of message which Mr Modi or his Government wants to send out to the world."



It may be noted that the British Broadcasting Company SIS Live was awarded the
contract for television coverage for 2010 Commonwealth Games by Prasar Bharati on 5th
March 2010. The unit responsible for negotiating and delivering the contract was
effectively the former BBC Outside Broadcasts, which had been acquired by SIS in 2008.
Under the terms of that acquisition, this unit was committed to operating under the same
ethical and professional standards that had applied when it was part of the BBC.



Of the original contract value, Rs 147.6 crores had been paid but the outstanding
balance of Rs 98.4 crores together with substantial other costs and charges remain unpaid
despite the fact that the company delivered on-time and within budget, providing widely
praised world class coverage for the global television market, under the notoriously
difficult operating conditions which beset the Delhi Games.



Today, exactly five years and one Commonwealth Games later, SIS Live is still waiting
to be paid.




 
Media Contact 
Meera Krishnan 
meera@lexicon.in 
91-9971500866 
CEO, Lexicon Public Relations & Corporate Consultants 


 



SIS Live


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