Mumbai: Looking at India as an attractive investment destination for its companies, China has evinced strong interest in the ongoing ‘Make in India’ campaign with various delegations from the neighbouring country taking part in the summit here.
Noting that China and India have become the two strongest driving forces for the world’s economic growth, China’s Consul General in Mumbai said both countries have great potential for common development through bilateral cooperation.
“In recent years, China has begun its economic restructuring, which means that it has to transfer some of its manufacturing capacity overseas due to ever-increasing costs,” Consul General of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China (Mumbai), Zheng Xiyuan said in a note.
According to Xiyuan, China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ programme to strengthen industrial cooperation with the countries along the Silk Road makes India an important investment destination. “Under the incentives offered under the ‘One Belt One Road’ programme, more and more Chinese companies have strongly expressed their intention to invest overseas,” Xiyuan said.
“As a vital country along the Silk Road, India is gradually becoming one of most attractive investment destinations for Chinese companies…,” he said. Further, he noted that as India gradually improves its services in favour of Chinese investors, such as fast licence approval, ease of obtaining work permits and business visas, Chinese investors will also contribute a lot to ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make in Maharashtra’.
The week-long manufacturing summit in India has witnessed the participation of some important delegations from China’s government including the Suzhou government delegation, Hunan government delegation and China Association for Promotion of International trade, despite the fact that Chinese are currently in the midst of celebrating their half-month long New Year holiday.
The consul general observed that more and more Chinese investors have come to India to study the country’s investment environment, and some of them have already taken concrete steps to invest in the country.
These include Beiqi Foton Car Company, Shanghai Baoshan Steel Company and Taiyuan Heavy Industry. China’s economy grew 6.9 per cent in 2015 — the lowest rate since 1990 — and is expected to slow further this year, with the darkening perspective contributing to plunges in global stock markets in recent weeks.
