How a Mumbai business finds London clients and partners without a contact there

Scott Cundill · 2026-09-28 · Mumbai

Ask a Mumbai founder where they would like to be selling in three years and London comes up a lot. Sometimes it is one or two UK clients. Sometimes it is a reseller, a joint venture, or a small office near the City. The team is ready, the pricing works, and every afternoon in Mumbai is a working morning in London.

And yet the plan often stalls at the very first step, which is getting a reply.

Why do UK buyers ignore so many good offers from India?

Mostly because they cannot tell the good ones apart from the rest.

A procurement lead or a founder in London receives a steady stream of offers from overseas firms, and many of them read almost the same: capable team, competitive rates, happy to jump on a call. From a distance there is no way to know which firm is solid and which will disappear after the deposit. So the safest answer is no answer at all.

That silence says nothing about your work. It says the buyer had no way to check you.

What does a London firm check before saying yes?

Three things, usually in this order.

First, who else knows you. A London buyer wants to speak to someone they already trust who has seen your work, or at least met you. Second, whether you understand how things are done in the UK: contracts, payment terms, the fact that a quick "yes, no problem" is expected to mean exactly that. Third, whether you will still be around in a year.

A cold email can claim all three. Only a person can vouch for them.

Does the time difference get in the way?

Rarely, once people know how to use it. India does not change its clocks, so London is four and a half hours behind in the British summer and five and a half in winter. That leaves a comfortable window in the Mumbai afternoon for a video call. The direct flight takes around nine or ten hours, but most first meetings never need it.

The UK and India also signed a trade agreement in 2025, which has made plenty of firms on both sides take a closer look at each other. Interest is not the problem. Trust is.

What actually works

A warm introduction, made by someone who knows both sides.

In practice that means deciding exactly who you want to reach, for example a London retailer looking for a second textile supplier, or a UK software company that needs a development partner it can rely on. Then it means finding a person who is trusted by that kind of buyer and knows your firm too. When that person writes to you both at once, in their own words, explaining why you should talk, the London buyer is no longer reading a stranger's pitch. They are answering a friend.

The Mumbai-London Business Bridge

This Bridge was started to make exactly those introductions. It belongs to My Most Trusted, a business introduction network where you only meet people through someone who knows you both.

Each side of the Bridge has its own named host. In Mumbai that is Burhanuddin Patanwala, a law graduate and an associate at Fortitude Law Associates. The London host seat is still open. There are no bought contact lists, nobody is sold to the moment they join, and if an introduction would not help both people it is not made. Nothing here, and nothing a host says, is legal or financial advice.

If a London client would change your year, start with a simpler question than who to email. Ask who you would most like to meet, and who might already know them.