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When Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Make In India’ campaign asking international investors to manufacture from India, little did he know his idea would resonate with the Chinese. China recently rolled out a similar campaign — Made in China 2015 — featuring innovation and high-end manufacturing, among others, which according to China’s Ambassador to India Le Yucheng is ‘compatible, complementary’ with the Make in India campaign.
Speaking at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry here on Wednesday, Le said the Modi-led government had taken several significant steps to bring in Chinese businesses into India. He lauded Modi’s initiative to grant electronic visas to Chinese nationals and appointment of a joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office to look into the facilitation of Chinese investments in terms of relaxing restrictions and security checks for them.
The Chinese envoy’s statement got accentuated when Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion secretary Amitabh Kant said: “India is a far more open economy than China. We will open it more for the Chinese… We will make it easier to do business here not only for the World Bank but for ourselves.” He also addressed the seminar on ‘China-India Industrial Cooperation.’
Kant, however, said the economic relationship between India and China “will not survive” in the long run unless the issue of ballooning trade deficit between both countries is addressed.
“There is a huge trade deficit and it is not sustainable because a lot of this is non-essential imports… To address this, Chinese companies need to look at India and the vast market it provides and they have to look at manufacturing here,” he added.
According to Le, China will provide a ready market to Indian high-end pharmaceuticals and information technology.
Last month, during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to China, India and China signed 26 business deals worth $22 billion. Several large-scale Chinese firms are planning to invest heavily in the country’s infrastructure, power and telecom sectors.
“With China’s reliable technology and advanced facilities offered at an affordable price, infrastructure can be a highlight in our cooperation,” said the envoy, adding cooperation in the railway sector was a case in point.
India and China are jointly setting up a railway university. The ramping up of speed of the Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru railway and redevelopment of railways stations have already begun. The feasibility study of the 1,754-km high-speed rail from Delhi to Chennai has also been initiated by both sides, Le said.
“We are also working together in smart city projects. GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) and Shenzen of China have chosen as the first batch of pilot cities in our smart city cooperation. In addition, our cooperation in power generation, real estate development and other infrastructure sectors is in full swing,” he said.
At present, there are eight sister cities and two sister states between India and China, the envoy said. He noted Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had become focal points to Chinese firms. He said Chinese manufacturers are also planning to invest in Kakinada special economic zone.
Le added the construction of Chinese industrial parks in Pune and Vadodara were in full swing.
Speaking at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry here on Wednesday, Le said the Modi-led government had taken several significant steps to bring in Chinese businesses into India. He lauded Modi’s initiative to grant electronic visas to Chinese nationals and appointment of a joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office to look into the facilitation of Chinese investments in terms of relaxing restrictions and security checks for them.
The Chinese envoy’s statement got accentuated when Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion secretary Amitabh Kant said: “India is a far more open economy than China. We will open it more for the Chinese… We will make it easier to do business here not only for the World Bank but for ourselves.” He also addressed the seminar on ‘China-India Industrial Cooperation.’
Kant, however, said the economic relationship between India and China “will not survive” in the long run unless the issue of ballooning trade deficit between both countries is addressed.
“There is a huge trade deficit and it is not sustainable because a lot of this is non-essential imports… To address this, Chinese companies need to look at India and the vast market it provides and they have to look at manufacturing here,” he added.
According to Le, China will provide a ready market to Indian high-end pharmaceuticals and information technology.
Last month, during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to China, India and China signed 26 business deals worth $22 billion. Several large-scale Chinese firms are planning to invest heavily in the country’s infrastructure, power and telecom sectors.
“With China’s reliable technology and advanced facilities offered at an affordable price, infrastructure can be a highlight in our cooperation,” said the envoy, adding cooperation in the railway sector was a case in point.
India and China are jointly setting up a railway university. The ramping up of speed of the Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru railway and redevelopment of railways stations have already begun. The feasibility study of the 1,754-km high-speed rail from Delhi to Chennai has also been initiated by both sides, Le said.
“We are also working together in smart city projects. GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) and Shenzen of China have chosen as the first batch of pilot cities in our smart city cooperation. In addition, our cooperation in power generation, real estate development and other infrastructure sectors is in full swing,” he said.
At present, there are eight sister cities and two sister states between India and China, the envoy said. He noted Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had become focal points to Chinese firms. He said Chinese manufacturers are also planning to invest in Kakinada special economic zone.
Le added the construction of Chinese industrial parks in Pune and Vadodara were in full swing.
We are witnessing a new wave of business cooperation between our two countries with many success stories, headed.
