The Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla will take over as Indian co-chairman from Tata Steel managing director Dr Jamshed J Irani.

From the British side, The National Grid Co, UK chairman David Jefferies will take over as the co-chairman. Jefferies succeeds McAlpine Plc chairman Sir Terence Harrison as the British co-chairman.

Birla heads the Rs 20,000 crore second largest industrial house in the country with diverse business activities spanning over 16 countries.

Jefferies, in addition to chairing the National Grid Co, is also the chairman of the power sector working group advising the UK's department of trade and industry on matters relating to power projects overseas.

The Indo-British Partnership was launched in 1993 by the then Prime Ministers ofIndia and Britain - PV Narasimha Rao and John Major - to provide a concerted industry-led initiative to enhance trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.

On the Indian side, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) provides the secretariat for the IBP while the department of trade and industry of UK provides the secretariat on the British side.

According to a CII press release, the multi-faceted activities under the IBP umbrella over the past six years have resulted in a dramatic increase in bilateral trade. In 1992, the two-way trade was 1.8 billion. The total of two way trade since the inception of Indo-British Partnership stands at over £ 17 billion.

Over the same period, there have been 1450 Indo-British collaborations and the British investment stands at well over £3 billion.

A unique feature of the Indo-British partnership has been its sectoral focus covering agro foods, manufacturing, mining, infrastructure, environment, education and training.

As the new co-chairmenassume office, the IBP is poised to take on new dimensions and enlarge British cooperation with different states of India.