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Indian, Chinese industries gear up to do business
Tuesday, 21 October 2003, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: After years of hostility and suspicion of each other's competitive edge, Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs are bracing themselves to make their presence felt in each other's countries.
If the success of the weeklong mega trade event in China, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and which ended Sunday, is an indication, trade between India and China is set to grow manifold in coming years.
The India Week in China saw over 100 Indian industry captains deliberating on a host of trade issues with their Chinese counterparts, said a senior official of the industry lobby group.
CII's weeklong business events in China came soon after Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's historical six-day trip to Beijing and Shanghai in June, which achieved significant results in improving economic relations.
"The idea behind organising the events was to showcase India's potential in a vast spectrum of industrial sectors such as healthcare, banking, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and automotive components," said a CII official.
"The weeklong trade events provided Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs a platform to know each other and discuss possible areas of mutual cooperation. Most Indian companies have received a very encouraging response," he added.
As part of the India Week in China, the first-ever Made in India Show and India-China Hi-Tech Show were organised.
The Made in India show presented cross section of corporate India from steel, auto components, cement, textiles, tourism, and information and communications technology, projecting the capabilities of small, medium and large sectors.
A slew of sectoral seminars on possibility of Sino-Indian collaboration in tourism, textiles, manufacturing, and health were also organised.
With the possibility of trade and commerce flourishing between India and China, experts estimate that bilateral trade is poised to touch $10 billion by 2010, up from $5 billion now.
On the areas of cooperation, the official said Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs discussed the possibility of tie-ups in a wide spectrum of industrial sectors, including textile, tourism, automobile components and IT.
Mutual cooperation in the textile trade between India and China would complement each other and help the world's two most populous nations emerge as giants to dominate the international textile market.
Manish Haria, chairman of India's Handloom Export Promotion Council said though China was a giant in the textile trade, India, particularly in handlooms, could certainly "supplement and complement" the textile industry in that country.
India could also provide exclusive varieties of handlooms to break the monotony and enthral Chinese consumers, he added.
India's export of cotton fabrics and made-ups to China during 1998-99 was a meagre $1.6 million. It reached $2.63 million in 2002-03 and has the potential to increase tenfold to about $30 million, said experts.
According to Haria, China imports about $30-35 million worth of made-up textile articles. India, therefore, has the potential to export made-up articles to China because Indian handloom products are very exclusive.
He said Indian handlooms could also supply exclusive fabrics that could be used for further value addition in China and re-exported.
Industry experts said time was also ripe for China and India to forge a global partnership in tourism.
"Tourism is bound to flourish between the two nations, especially in the backdrop of a growing interest level amongst the people in the two countries to know about each other," said the CII official.
State-run Air-India would start two weekly flights to Beijing from December 11 to cater to an expected surge in tourist inflows.
The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) and the Indian Steel Alliance (ISA) have also formed a joint working group on steel. The working group would discuss India-China cooperation in iron ore and steel.
Industry representatives from both countries felt their partnership could throw open an entire gamut of global opportunities in manufacturing.
While China excelled in the manufacturing sector, India's strength lay in the services sector where it has a clear advantage of world-class intellectual capital.
Chinese and Indian industries have also identified areas for cooperation in health care. The areas identified were health care deliverables, equipment training and development as well as service delivery, both in India and China.
Source: IANS
Source: IANS