Indian tyre tycoon says idle British employees simply need to go down pub

Stereotyping: Neeraj Kanwar is managing director of Indian agency Apollo Tyres

The boss of a multinational tyre-making large stated he wouldn’t construct a manufacturing unit within the UK as a result of British employees ‘hardly work – they go to the pub’.

London-based Neeraj Kanwar is managing director of Indian agency Apollo Tyres, which has seven factories internationally – together with a European base in Hungary – however none within the UK.

Kanwar, 52, who additionally owns an Italian restaurant in London known as Scalini, blamed the welfare state for making it much less essential for individuals to have to carry down jobs. But an employment professional branded Kanwar’s remarks as ‘crude nationwide stereotyping’.

Apollo, which loved revenues of £2.3billion within the newest monetary 12 months to the top of March 2023, employs greater than 18,000 employees globally and is a long-term sponsor of Manchester United.

In the UK, the corporate has a ‘skinny’ staff of round 30 engaged on its company model, finance and a few HR operations. It additionally has one in every of two innovation hubs within the UK – with the opposite in Hyderabad in India – and has a tie-up with Glasgow University, working in areas akin to synthetic intelligence to spice up productiveness at its factories.

But Kanwar dismissed the concept of producing within the UK given the shortage of employees.

‘There’s no incentive to enter the UK,’ he stated.

‘Hungary gave us incentives, the price of labour is way more aggressive after which the price of manufacturing turns into way more simple. And you know the way the workforce within the UK is. They hardly work – they go to the pub.’

Kanwar stated the comment was a quip however added: ‘I believe due to authorities insurance policies individuals can sit house and get pensions and so they need not work, and that is a giant coverage subject.’

Apollo was based within the Nineteen Seventies by Kanwar’s grandfather Raunaq Singh. Kanwar’s London base can also be a ‘semi-HQ’ for Apollo’s international operations outdoors India. The remarks come as London faces a battle to re-establish itself as a hub for worldwide enterprise chiefs, a lot of whom have chosen to base themselves within the UK or record their companies right here even when their essential operations are abroad.

Kanwar’s views had been criticised by labour market economist John Philpott. He stated: ‘This strikes me as crude nationwide stereotyping that might be condemned if made by a British employer about employees abroad.

‘Workers in all developed nations are likely to get extra picky about job decisions as revenue ranges and schooling improves, which is one motive why migrant labour is used to fill decrease paid roles.

‘But there’s little proof to counsel that able-bodied individuals with few different choices can reject jobs due to the supply of advantages. Indeed, one can see from the truth that so many younger educated British individuals find yourself in much less expert and insecure work within the so-called gig financial system that a straightforward life on advantages spent down the pub just isn’t a widespread choice.’