He does not say 'shut up, shut up' like one of his controversial predecessors, nor does his face get red after a few minutes of conversation. Quite the contrary.

By the firmness of his handshake, his unflappable demeanour and the classic lines of his well cut suit, Britain's High Commissioner-designate to India could easily pass for a CEO of a successful multinational corporation.

The comparison with a private sector head honcho is not all that far fetched either because Michael Arthur, who is taking over in New Delhi from the much liked Sir Rob Young, is into business in a big way - including the business
of diplomacy - and India is a high priority target.

A deftness of touch was all too evident when Arthur received representatives of the Indian media at the India Office Council Chamber of the British Foreign Office.

Later, as he ranged across a wide variety of bilateral issues, whether it was people to people contact nurtured by the 1.3 million NRIs settled in the UK, bilateral trade growing at an impressive 16 per cent per annum, or inward investment from the 450 Indian companies that have opened their offices in London.

"In global priorities, India is becoming indispensable over a wide range of issues," the 53-year-old envoy told rediff.com. "For the goals that we want to achieve, we cannot do so without involving India and China.

"We have a fantastic bilateral relationship at the best level ever. A number of cabinet ministers here have made that point. Therefore I will be starting on a good platform for a new phase of relations in the 21st century."

Married with four grown up children, the youngest is 18, Arthur and his wife arrive in New Delhi this coming weekend and they will be immediately plunged into the deep end as they assist in the preparations for receiving Prince Charles, who arrives two weeks later.

The royal visit will hopefully generate the kind of goodwill that is indispensable in providing the cement to bind the two friendly capitals.

In the longer term, it is the business links between the capitalists of both countries that give rise to optimism about how the relationship can be further enriched.

Outsourcing is one obvious area of future growth, although recent news leaks that the UK's national rail inquiries could relocate to a call centre in Bangalore have generated some negative publicity within the British media.

"This is a service industry that India is providing successfully," Arthur says, "and outsourcing is a two way trade. We have services that we can supply and Indian companies supply to us. We're very happy with that.

"If a British company thinks it is beneficial to co-operate in some way -- outsourcing for example -- then we as a British government must work on that."

As part of his preparation for taking over the India job, Arthur took two months leave earlier this summer to spend time traveling around India.

He has already visited Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mussoorie, where he spent a week on a Hindi learning course.

Since returning from his travels, he has immersed himself in discussions with his Foreign Office colleagues, academics and big business representatives to see how best to boost Indo-British ties.

Bilateral trade remains number one priority with Britain in favour of a more open global trading environment. The joint struggle against global terrorism and shared millennium development goals of poverty reduction are also high on the agenda. So is Britain's concern about how the climate will be affected as India's energy demand doubles in the next decade.

Ask what tips he has been given for diplomatic survival in India and Arthur turns to an old India hand, Ian Hughes, who has now been assigned as Britain's deputy high commissioner in Mumbai.

"Get out as much as you can and get to know the people," is Hughes's response.

Arthur, who spent some of the summer traveling around India in a second class rail compartment, says he has every intention of heeding that advice.

"I need to get out of Delhi as much as possible," he declares. "I will also need to be in regular contact with state chief ministers, its very important in a decentralised structure."