Two of India’s wealthiest men, Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja have attacked the UK’s high taxes, restrictive property laws and tight visa regime for driving potential Indian investors away from the country, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The report, which was published shortly before last week’s UK annual budget statement in which the government announced a cut to the top income tax rate and higher transaction charges on wealthy home sales, highlights concerns about whether the UK is still an attractive destination for Indians.

The Hinduja comments come shortly after UK prime minister David Cameron visited India.

Gopichand Hinduja made the criticisms in an interview with the newspaper. The UKn would be more successful in India if it relaxed visa and tax rules and encouraged partnerships between cash-poor UK technology firms and wealthy Indian conglomerates, he said.

“We strongly believe Britain can play an important role and we shouldn’t lose that opportunity. Today Indians can bring great investment into the UK. But there are visa problems – don’t you think that becomes a barrier to investment? If taxes keep growing, that’s a barrier to the new investor,” Gopichand Hinduja said.

He said some of his Indian friends in London had already “started migrating to other destinations like Dubai and Geneva. Many of my friends have disappeared from the UK,” he said.

The comments will strike some followers of recent UK political history as ironic. A decade ago, then-UK cabinet minister, Peter Mandelson, resigned as Northern Ireland Secretary for his alleged role in helping Srichand Hinduja obtain a UK passport.

Visas

The UK has moved to clarify its rules on defining non-domicile status and residency, although some details remain to be completed. The current Conservative/Liberal Democrat government has also enacted a new regime encouraging wealthy individuals to invest in the UK. Those who come to the UK and invest large sums of money will be given an accelerated right to settle. Those who invest £5 million (about $8 million) will be allowed to settle after three years and those that invest a minimum of £10 million allowed after two. Previously, the minimum requirement is five years.

The UK government, like many of its counterparts, has sought to balance the benefit of encouraging high net worth investors to put money into the UK against political pressures to limit, for example, rapid price growth in London’s already-expensive property market. In recent years there has also been hostile commentary about wealthy individuals taking advantage of the UK tax code.