Make in India

Source:Global Times Published: 2015-4-9 19:58:08

Chinese companies should explore the possibilities of investing in India, Secretary of Department of Industrial Policy Promotion in India, Vice Minister Amitabh Kant said during a recent "Make in India" seminar in Shanghai to discuss investment opportunities in India for Chinese entrepreneurs.

Kant, leading a trade mission delegation of 10 private-sector leaders from India, made his pitch to representatives from 170 Chinese and Indian companies attending the seminar. Citing a predicted 9 to 10 percent annual growth, Kant urged Chinese companies to use India as their base for supplies and manufacturing.

"India has a huge domestic market and cheaper labor costs," he said.

The "Make in India" campaign is an initiative of the India government launched in September 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, inviting global firms to set up manufacturing bases in India. The program focuses on job creation and skill enhancement in 25 sectors including automobiles, chemicals, IT, pharmaceuticals, textiles and tourism.

"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi our engagement with China has become stronger," said Naveen Srivastava, the Consul General of India in Shanghai. "Last year we held a series of high-level exchanges between India and China, the highlight of which was Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India," he said.

Vice Minister Kant told the Global Times that he thought India's biggest challenge is the lack of sustainable infrastructure. He said that India needs to create 500 new cities to provide infrastructure for 700 million people.

"But to realize this goal, India needs resources and longtime financing from AIIB," Kant said, referring to the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Lu Yuanqiang, a keynote speaker at the seminar and representative of Shanghai Urban Construction Group, made a case for the huge market potential of sustainable and stable growth opportunities for Chinese entrepreneurs in India, specifically underground construction projects.

"We all know Shanghai is the major economic city in China while India's economic center is Mumbai. Yet while Shanghai's underground railway network totals 520 kilometers, in Mumbai it is only 11.4 kilometers," Lu said.

Yang Jianrong (pictured top left), chairman of the Shanghai branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), said that currently there are altogether 159 countries and regions investing in Shanghai. Four hundred and ninety multinational corporations have their regional headquarters in Shanghai, and there are roughly 297 investing firms and 381 foreign-based research centers located in Shanghai.

Last year the bilateral trade volume between Shanghai and India was $7.53 billion with a 4 percent increase. The export volume of Shanghai was $4.15 billion while the import volume was $3.38 billion. The number of direct investment programs from India to Shanghai totaled 172 and the volume totaled $276 million.

"Today there is a slowdown in demand in America and Europe. This is an Asian century, therefore we need to take India and China forward," Vice Minister Kant said.

Global Times

Vice Minister Amitabh Kant speaks at the seminar.



 

Yang Jianrong, chairman of the Shanghai branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International



 


 

Participants at the "Make in India" seminar

Photos: Courtesy of the Indian consulate



 

Posted in: Metro Shanghai

blog comments powered by Disqus