Peter Kenyon was a keynote speaker at the Business India Forum that chose Stamford Bridge as its venue this week.

The Chelsea chief executive opened the first session of the day which was on the business of sports, emphasising the importance of sport to the burgeoning Indian economy.

Other speakers included Vijay Gautam, chief operating officer of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, Jocelyn Robiot, head of global sports marketing at adidas, Arunava Chaudhuri, CEO of IndianFootball.com plus representatives from the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

In his speech, Kenyon highlighted how much India and the United Kingdom have in common historically, culturally and linguistically and added:

'Similar legal and political systems allied to India's natural creativity, flair and "can do" attitude create a real wealth of opportunities for UK businesses.

'Chelsea FC have had nothing but good experiences in India. We have always been made very welcome and we are excited by the possibilities afforded by the projects we are working on: there is a real opportunity to shape a lasting legacy for Indian football and society.'

The India Business Forum was founded in the year 2002 and aims to further the role of India in global business.

Other sessions at the Forum dealt with luxury and lifestyle markets, brand and marketing and an overview of the Indian economy and key sectors.

As part of Chelsea's commitment to promoting grassroots football in Asia, the club announced in February that we would support the launch in India of Super Soccer Star, the competition that aims to find new young football talent.

Chelsea also helped represent London on the Mayor of London's visit to India in 2007.