Indo-Malaysia trade could soon reach US $10 billion: A. Sakthivel
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Mr. A Sakthivel, Vice-President (centre) addressing the meet. With him are (from left) Mr. R. Prabha, General Manager, Canara Bank, Mr. Adolf Ludge, President, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Mr. M. Rafeeque Ahmed, Past President, FIEO and Mr. Ajay Sahai, Director General, FIEO |
FIEO Vice President Mr. A. Sakthivel hopes that with rapid expansion of bilateral trade flows between India and Malaysia, soon the annual trade between them would reach US $10 billion from US$4.5 billion achieved in the last fiscal. Mr. Sakthivel, who is also the Chairman of Southern Region office of FIEO, observed this while welcoming a 23-member Malaysian business delegation at a dinner meet organized by the Federation’s’ Southern Region office on10 January 2007 at Chennai. The Malaysian delegation comprising of business representatives from various product and service categories was led by Mr. Adolf Ludge, President, Kaula Lumpur & Selangor Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Besides Federation’s representatives, Mr. R. Prabha, General Manager, Canara Bank, senior officials from export promotion agencies and about 60 exporters from Chennai and adjoining areas joined the dinner meet.
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Mr. M. Rafeeque Ahmed (right) presenting a memento to Mr. Adolf Ludge |
Though Malaysia is already India’s second largest trading partner in the region, said Mr. Sakthivel, the two countries can raise their bilateral trade further, especially by promoting interaction between their small and medium enterprises. FIEO’s Past President Mr. M. Rafeeque Ahmed during his address said that the business community of both the countries should come forward to establish greater cooperation in the areas where they together enjoy technological and marketing edge. The delegation head Mr. Ludge while explaining the purpose of his visit observed that the service sector could play a key role in enhancing business tie-ups between the two countries.
The Director General of FIEO, Mr. Ajay Sahai, while concluding the meet observed that India and Malaysia were the two fastest growing economies with burgeoning middle class. Pointing to the similarities between the two economies, he said "our mutual economic interests converge and collude strongly and do not collide at all." He also stressed that in the changing world economic order, we should shed away export-centric views and should also think of how judiciously we can import goods to cut down our cost of domestic manufacturing.
Speaking further, Mr. Sahai observed that India was keen to enter into free trade agreement with ASEAN and was in the process of addressing some of its domestic concerns to facilitate the process. "Indian industry is not apprehensive about FTA with ASEAN but wants to achieve a level playing field before that in terms of infrastructure, cost of credit, cost of power etc. so that Indian industry doesn’t fall prey to its competitors in other ASEAN countries." said Mr. Sahai.
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The year 2006 witnessed unprecedented growth in India’s merchandise export when it crossed the landmark figure of US $100 billion to reach US $ 103 billion, recording a growth rate of 24%. Our export is currently growing three times faster than our GDP. It grew by 24 per cent 2005-06 and 27 per cent in 2004-05, and its share of GDP has grown to 13% now from a mere 6% in 1990-91.
Mr. A. Sakthivel, Vice President, FIEO
India is buzzing with economic activities and offers tremendous investment opportunities today. Organised retail sector in India is expected to grow from about US$ 78 billion to US$ 45 billion by 2010. The sector is expected to grow by 37% in 2007 and 42% in 2008. The share of organised retail in total retail sector is just 4.6% now. There is a shortage of professional manpower in retail and it is in a way encouraging reverse brain drain. Investment can be made in 237 approved SEZs in next couple of years. SEZs may be used both for catering to Indian consumers as well as third country exports. Plans are afoot to invest about half a trillion dollar in infrastructure over next five years in road, ports, civil aviation and power sector.
Mr. Ajay Sahai, Director General, FIEO
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A view of the participants |
