CII Communique November 2012

india and the worldRetracing the Path to Prosperity:Lessons from India-China Business PartnershipA CII – Embassy ofIndia Beijing book on‘Retracing the Path toProsperity – Lessonsfrom India-ChinaBusiness Partnership’was released duringthe inauguration of theIndia Show, organizedconcurrently with the6th China InternationalAuto Parts Expo on26 October in Beijing.Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII; Wang Guiqing, Vice President, China Chamber of Commercefor Import & Export of Machinery & Electronic Products; S Gopalakrishnan, President Designate, CII, andCo-Founder and Executive Co-Chairman, Infosys Ltd; Dr S Jaishankar, Ambassador of India to China;Rajive Kaul, Past President, CII, Chairman, CII Trade Fairs Council, and MD, Nicco Corporation Ltd; andAsit Tripathy, Joint Secretary Union Ministry of Commerce, India, releasing the CII-Embassy of Indiabook on ‘Retracing the Path to Prosperity – Lessons from India – China Business Partnership’ in BeijingSpeaking on the book, Dr S Jaishankar, Ambassador ofIndia to China, said, “Like the rest of the world, India toohas to appreciate the full implications of the continued riseof China. While our relationship has its share of challenges,China is also an opportunity on the economic side. Bilateraltrade has grown manifold in the last decade and we areentering a phase of greater mutual investments.” Stressingon the need for more Indian businesses to engage withChina, the Ambassador added “Indian companies mustrealize that an important aspect of market access in Chinais having a proximate presence. Secondly, like other largemarkets, local production is a must to address localdemand, both in scale and in its customization. Third,leveraging China’s many efficiencies could assist Indiancompanies in their quest of becoming global.”In recent years, the relationship between China andIndia has maintained good momentum for all-rounddevelopment. With the joint effort on both sides, theremarkable progress achieved in bilateral trade andeconomic cooperation is the highlight of the bilateralrelations. China is now India’s largest trading partnerwith around US$ 74 billion worth goods traded last yearand aiming to touch US$ 100 billion by 2015.Commenting on the Indian investment in China, Mr SGopalakrishnan, President Designate, CII, and Co-Founderand Executive Co-Chairman, Infosys Ltd, said that theIndian manufacturing and IT companies are making seriousmoves in China, demonstrating their capabilities in high-techengineering, software development, banking and forex tradingplatforms. India's IT companies started their businesses inChina by serving large multinational clients in the country butare now closely working with various Chinese companies inhelping them to improve their technology and make themmore competitive. Similarly, Indian manufacturing companieshave been setting up their factories in China in their aspirationto be global players in their respective sectors. Theseinvestments have not only helped them to make inroadsinto the domestic market, but have also become a platformto explore new markets, he added.Indian and Chinese companies are setting up operations ineach others’ countries, in some cases for global markets,said Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII. Theinvestments by Indian corporates in China range acrosssectors like IT, Pharma, Auto components, RenewableEnergy, Machinery, Engineering, Electronics etc. Thesecompanies have established themselves and seamlesslyintegrated into the local ecosystem, thereby makingsignificant contributions to the Chinese economy, societyand local community, in their own manner. “In spite of ourgrowing trade, the bilateral investment of about US$ 1 billionrepresents a huge untapped potential considering the sizeand scale of the two economies. Hence there is a needto take our bilateral relations from pure trade to investmentledtrade, in order to make this economic relation moresustainable and long term”, said Mr Banerjee.This book captures the positive contribution and successfulstrategies adopted by Indian companies invested inChina, to serve as a useful reference for potential Indianinvestors. The stories are captured under the themesLeading the Innovation Charge, Conquering GlobalMarket, Grooming World-class Managers, Boosting theLocal Economy and Giving Back to Society.“This book is yet another initiative of CII in its effort tobuild a strong sense of ‘Brand India’ in China, and sendout a strong message that Indian industry and peopleare valuable business partners,” said Mr Banerjee.Communiqué November 2012 | 21