Taiwan hi-tech firms seek to invest in India other than China

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 09 January 2007, 18:30 IST
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New Delhi: Taiwan's information technology firms are now considering India as an investment destination. These firms are looking at India as the economic partner, shifting its focus from China. A report by a leading newspaper in India suggested that the combination of Taiwanese manufacturers' technology hardware manufacturing specialty with that of Indian software design will help create a win-win situation for both parties. Hsu Chun-fang, deputy director general of the Board of Foreign Trade under Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs informed that Taiwan is looking at India, striving to expand economic and trade relations with foreign countries. In a bid to do so, four large-scale delegations consisting of government officials and representatives from relevant industries visited India last year. The visit was more of a fact-finding process, to study the feasibility of establishing a special industrial zone in the country. Also Taiwan's foreign exchange reserves have reached more than 260 billion US dollars. This is one hundred billion dollars more than in 2002, ranking Taiwan as third overall in the world. In the first ten months of this year, inward foreign investment in Taiwan reached 11.2 billion US dollars. This is more than triple the amount during the same period in 2005 showing a strong support from foreign investors. Since its hi-tech industry is doing business better than before, Taiwanese companies see research and development as the key to their future. For this the government-funded Institute for Information Industry is planning to set up a research and development center in India. Moreover, India's information-related product manufacturing industry, shoe sector and automobile parts and components industry has also attracted investment from Taiwanese entrepreneurs. The report further informed that in spite of missing formal diplomatic relations between Taiwan and India, the two countries enjoyed close economic and trade exchanges, with two-way trade volume amounting to US $ 2.42 billion in 2005.