British exporters have been warned against ignoring India in favour of the perceived boom markets of China.
Black Country export champion Peter Mathews said India had shown a consistent and increasing ability to trade effectively.
Mr Mathews, managing director of Black Country Metals and president of the Midlands World Trade Forum, was addressing the India-UK Business Leaders Forum in London.
The international recyclable metals trader, said he expected his company's exports to India to grow as the world manufacturing base continued to move eastwards.
He said there were increasing signs of barriers to trade being erected in China, with more inspections and certificates required.
India tended to present fewer problems, mainly because of its historic associations with Britain and its model of the British legal system.
"Business needs to latch on to the benefits of trading with India, working with a system which is easier for us to understand than that of many other countries around the world today," he said.
"From our company's point of view we expect our exports to India to continue to grow and compare a massive shift in the flow of our material which once stayed in Europe and which is now being exported in quantity showing the obvious global shift in world manufacturing."
