London’s rising street crime concerns India’s elite

New Delhi: The Financial Times in London has unearthed a compelling narrative detailing the alarming trend of visiting India's elite falling prey to muggings for their prized possessions—watches, handbags, and mobile phones—on the streets of London. This unsettling development comes amidst a worrying surge in street crime plaguing the city.

While negotiators from London and New Delhi engage in discussions over a bilateral trade deal, a different, more immediate concern has emerged among India’s business elite: the palpable fear of being targeted by muggers in London's exclusive Mayfair district.

According to the Financial Times, David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, who recently engaged in talks on geopolitics and commerce in New Delhi, found himself drawn into discussions about the risks associated with owning Rolex watches in London. Devin Narang, a prominent renewable energy entrepreneur, emphasized that crime in London has become a major anxiety for India’s chief executives during a meeting with Lammy and other Indian business leaders.

"People are being mugged in the heart of London — in Mayfair," Narang, a member of the executive committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, emphasized during the meeting.

"All CEOs in India have had an experience of physical mugging and the police not responding," he added, painting a vivid picture of the growing insecurity experienced by India's business elite.

London has witnessed a recent surge in street crime, with incidents of "theft from a person" rising by a staggering 27 per cent last year compared to 2022, as per Metropolitan Police data cited by Financial Times. The district of Westminster, which encompasses Mayfair, has experienced an even sharper increase, with theft from a person skyrocketing by 40 per cent in 2023.

Police reports have highlighted a disturbing trend of mobile phone and watch snatching incidents, often perpetrated by moped and e-bike gangs. In response, a spokesperson for the mayor of London assured the public that the Metropolitan Police have escalated their efforts to combat robberies, deploying specialist teams to proactively target prolific offenders and robbery hotspots.

For India's elite, the prospect of being mugged on London’s streets, and the subsequent loss of luxury items such as Rolex watches, has emerged as a constant source of anxiety, ranking alongside immigration delays at Heathrow.

Narang expressed deep concern about the lack of police responsiveness to such crimes, particularly given their prevalence in Mayfair, FT reported. "London is a walking city," he remarked solemnly. "You don’t want to look over your shoulder all the time. You don’t want to go to a city where you’re likely to be mugged in the streets."

Lammy, reflecting on his recent visit to New Delhi, acknowledged that the issue of crime in London had been raised repeatedly, underscoring that "security and fighting crime" would be top priorities for Labour under Sir Keir Starmer, should the party win the upcoming general election, expected later this year.