| Danial Norjidi |
THERE are numerous investment opportunities on offer in India for Brunei, while at the same time Brunei also has many advantages of its own to offer India.
These points were put forward by Nagma Mohamed Mallick, the High Commissioner of India to Brunei Darussalam, while delivering a keynote address at opening ceremony of India Investrade 2016 at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Berakas yesterday.
She highlighted that the Indian economy is today “the fastest growing economy in the world”, and described the private sector as one of India’s great strengths, with most of the high performing sectors of the Indian economy powered by its private sector.
“We are proud of our dynamic and world-class service sector, highly innovative in its know-how and business practices, experienced entrepreneurs who know when to take risks, and a frugal and efficient managerial class.”
In her address, the high commissioner noted that today’s international economic scenario is of depressed oil prices, slowing economies and sluggish demand.
Nagma Mohamed Mallick, the High Commissioner of India to Brunei Darussalam. – AZROL AZMI
“It makes sense for Brunei to diversify its trade away from its traditional partners,” she said. “Thanks to the excellent price-quality match that Indian products offer, whether in pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, chemicals, textiles and agro-products offer, or in services like IT and telecom, health services, banking and financial services or accountancy, it will be increasingly attractive for Brunei to trade more with India.”
In an environment when global economic growth is modest, India today stands as a bright spot and has emerged as the fastest growing economy in the world, she highlighted.
“The Indian economy grew by 7.6 per cent in 2015-16 and is projected to grow at 7.5 per cent during the fiscal year 2016-17, according to the IMF,” she said. “India is now officially a $2 trillion economy and has foreign exchange reserves of more than $360 billion. India is poised to become the world’s youngest country by 2020, with an average age of 29 years.”
In her presentation she highlighted that India is a great location for investment and trade, and shared that the Indian economy is very open to foreign investment thanks to radical steps taken by its government.
“Experts today consider India to be the most open country in the world for foreign direct investment (FDI),” she said.
She also noted that India is set to expand rapidly its physical and energy infrastructure in the next few years in both of which sectors foreign investment will yield excellent returns.
“I believe that there are good opportunities for Brunei, both the government and the private sector, to invest in India now,” she said.
She noted several major FDI reforms in India in various new sectors such as plantations, space, aviation, retail, broadcasting, credit information companies, e-commerce and white label ATM operations, as well as in key sectors including railways, construction, defence, medical devices, insurance and pension funds, telecom, single brand retail, pharmaceuticals and asset reconstruction companies.
The high commissioner also touched on the Make in India initiative, which is the government’s major new initiative to make India a hub of high-quality manufacturing. “We have taken many steps to improve the ease of doing business in India and the results are showing.”
She shared that in 2015-16, India witnessed FDI inflows of more than US$50 billion.
Adding on, she said that this is a good opportunity for Indian investors to get to know Brunei too.
“Brunei has many advantages – its central location in the eastern Asean region, its status as a founder-member of regional trading arrangements like Asean and Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), its peace and tranquillity, and its rule of law and excellent legal system rooted in the English Common Law found in India as well.”
“There is ongoing interest in Brunei among our private sector,” she said. “A high level business delegation from the apex chamber of commerce of India, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), will visit Brunei in October.”
“That delegation will include serious entrepreneurs from the pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, oil field support services, healthcare, IT and alternative energy sectors,” she added. “I hope that we can facilitate mutually beneficial business relations between our investors and entrepreneurs.”
The post India offers numerous investment opportunities for Brunei appeared first on Borneo Bulletin Online.
