London, December 17:

Apart from stalking British business with takeover bids, Indian companies are now flocking to London to raise billions of pounds to drive their domestic and global expansion plans.

Some Indian companies have taken over British firms. Many more, including Tata Steel, are in the process of acquiring companies such as Corus. In 2007, over 20 Indian companies are expected to join London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to raise at least 2.5 billion pounds, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

The newspaper is among several British news media that regularly reports on India’s growing economic importance and the opportunities it presented to British business.

The daily reported that Indian property major Unitech had raised 360 million pounds through a new fund that will begin trading on AIM this week.