CII Communique November 2012

india and the worldCII, in association with the Union Ministry ofCommerce & Industry, India, and the Embassyof India, Beijing, organized the ‘India Show’ from26-28 October in Beijing, China, concurrently with the6th China International Auto Parts Expo (CIAPE).The ‘India Show’ in Beijing assumes greater significancein the context of enhanced economic and strategiccooperation between the two nations, in a year which hasbeen announced as the ‘Year of India-China Friendshipand Cooperation.’ More than 80 companies participatedin the three day exhibition, showcasing the wide varietyof top class Indian auto parts, along with maintenanceand tuning equipment and general components.As part of the India Show, a high-powered 19 memberCII delegation, led by Mr S Gopalakrishnan, PresidentDesignate, CII, and Executive Co-Chairman, InfosysTechnologies Ltd, visited China from 25-26 October.Economic cooperation between India and China in thelast decade has been a remarkable story, said Dr SJaishankar, Ambassador of India to China, addressing theinauguration of the show. From very modest beginnings,China has become India’s largest trade partner and Indiais China’s seventh largest export destination. Trade lastyear was USD 74 billion and is steadily growing. Whilethis is heartening, it has posed its own challenges interms of a deficit last year of USD 27 billion, which isdifficult to sustain or to defend. Market access for Indiancompanies is a major concern and that is precisely whyit is important that so many of them are here today,he said.Sino-Indian economic relations are now maturing, movingfrom trade to investments, said the Ambassador. Anumber of Chinese auto manufacturers are contemplatingprojects in India. Their success in such a competitivemarket depends on strong relationships with suppliersof components. Impressive though its growth is, theIndia-China economic relationship is an under-leveragedone. We offer each other so many opportunities formutual development. Creating an enabling environmentto take advantage of them is our endeavor, observedMr Jaishankar.Bilateral trade between China and India reached $73.9billion in 2011, and both the countries have sustainedthe world's highest annual GDP growth in the past 10years - 9% for China, about 7% for India, said Mr SGopalakrishan. As per the figures released by China’sMinistry of Commerce, cumulative Chinese investment intoIndia till December 2011 is US$ 575.7 million and Indianinvestments into China stood at US$ 441.7 million. Indianmanufacturing and IT companies are making seriousmoves in China, demonstrating their capabilities in hightechengineering, software development, banking andforex trading platforms, he added. India's IT companiesstarted their businesses in China by serving largemultinational clients in the country. Similarly the Indianmanufacturing companies have been setting up theirfactories in China, in their aspiration to be global playersin their respective sectors, said Mr Gopalakrishnan.He said that more than 200 Indian companies arecurrently present in China to better engage with thelocal market and explore new areas of cooperation.These companies apart from tapping the domesticmarket have been using China as their base to producefor other markets.Engagement between the two countries is strengtheningthrough mechanisms like the Joint Economic Group(JEG) and Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) with aview to deepen the China-India strategic and cooperativepartnership. As two fast-developing countries, we canlearn from one another and work towards complementingeach other’s strengths for mutual benefit, felt MrGopalakrishnan.Mr Asit Tripathy, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry ofCommerce and Industry, India, declared that theGovernment of India attaches great importance to theeconomic relations between India and China. Expressingconfidence that the target of USD 100 billion bilateraltrade would not be difficult to achieve by 2015, he hopedthat there would be greater investments from the twosides in times ahead, and called for efforts to attain asustainable balance of trade, which is currently in favorof China. Mr Tripathy said that the CII-Embassy of IndiaBeijing book, ‘Retracing the path to prosperity – lessonsfrom India – China Business Partnership’ which wasreleased on the occasion, highlights the importanceof building a good business relationship with ethicsbetween the enterprises of the two countries to promotebilateral trade and investments.Mr Rajive Kaul, Past President, CII, Chairman, CII TradeFairs Council, and, MD, Nicco Corporation Ltd, saidthat the exhibition showcases advance products andservices to bring out the best of the Indian auto-partsindustry. CII had earlier organized four ‘Made in India’shows from 2003 to 2006 in Beijing and Shanghai, hesaid. The keen interest expressed by Chinese automotivecompanies in the Indian auto industry would immenselyhelp promote bilateral economic cooperation betweenthe two countries, he said.Earlier, in his welcome remarks, Mr Chandrajit Banerjee,Director General, CII, said that the Show provided18 | November 2012 Communiqué