Tuesday, March 22 2005 11:45 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: British political establishment, diplomats, business magnates and the high society turned up in large numbers at a reception hosted in London last night (Mar 21, 2005) by Lord Swraj Paul.

The reception was to celebrate his youngest son's wedding and the success of his industrial group, Caparo which is considering acquisitions in India, nearly 25 years after his efforts to take over some Indian companies were thwarted.

The NRI industrialist and Labour peer chose a unique historical building, Lancaster House, venue for official banquets, to host the wedding reception for son Angad who married lawyer Michelle in October 2004 at the London Zoo.

The occasion turned out to be more than a wedding reception where Lord Paul spoke of his family, his businesses and his friends since he made Britain his home in 1967 and, in response, received lavish praise from Gordon Brown, Britain's Chancellor of Exchequer widely regarded as a future Prime Minister.

In a positive message to British business tycoons present, Lord Paul said his group is very upbeat about India where Caparo is building six plants to manufacture steel products and is looking at certain acquisitions.

Caparo has witnessed strong growth since last year and he was recently quoted as saying that 5 years ago when steel was down his group would have been valued at about 300 million Pounds but "today if someone made me an offer of 1 billion Pounds I would not sell it".