OakNorth Bank, a lender to small businesses and entrepreneurs in Britain, said the Mumbai-based Indiabulls Group has bought a 40 per cent stake in the company for £66 million.

The deal is said to have boosted OakNorth's capital base to more than £85m.

Indiabulls, which has interests in real estate development, financial services and lending, bought the stake through Indiabulls Housing Finance, India's second-largest private housing finance company.

OakNorth chief executive and co-founder Rishi Khosla said: "This is a massive vote of confidence in OakNorth, and this major investment will enable us to accelerate and expand our ambitious growth plans to take on the major banks' 'computer says no' approach to small business lending."

The announcement coincides with a visit to Britain by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which officials in both countries have said could yield deals worth billions of dollars.