Indian tyre tycoon says idle British workers just want to go down the pub

• Neeraj Kanwar is boss of Apollo Tyres
• Company has seven factories throughout the world – however none in the UK
• Employment skilled manufacturers Kanwar’s remarks as ‘crude nationwide stereotyping’

The boss of a multinational tyre-making big mentioned he wouldn’t construct a manufacturing facility in the UK as a result of British workers ‘hardly work – they go to the pub’.

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

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

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

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

But Kanwar dismissed the thought of producing in the UK given the shortage of workers.

‘There’s no incentive to go into the UK,’ he mentioned.

‘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 in the UK is. They hardly work – they go to the pub.’

Kanwar mentioned the comment was a quip however added: ‘I feel due to authorities insurance policies individuals can sit dwelling and get pensions and so they do not want to work, and that is a giant coverage problem.’

Apollo was based in the 1970s by Kanwar’s grandfather Raunaq Singh. Kanwar’s London base can also be a ‘semi-HQ’ for Apollo’s world operations exterior India. The remarks come as London faces a battle to re-establish itself as a hub for worldwide enterprise chiefs, lots of whom have chosen to base themselves in the UK or checklist their companies right here even when their fundamental operations are abroad.

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

‘Workers in all developed nations have a tendency to get extra picky about job decisions as revenue ranges and schooling improves, which is one cause 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 availability of advantages. Indeed, one can see from the indisputable fact that so many younger educated British individuals find yourself in much less expert and insecure work in the so-called gig financial system that a straightforward life on advantages spent down the pub shouldn’t be a widespread choice.’