January
13, 2008 Chinese
Business Should Develop a Stake
in India: Manmohan By Tarun Basu
Beijing
Asking Indian business leaders not to view China through the Western
prism, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday told a delegation of
CEOs who have come here that they should "think big", engage China
and make them develop a stake in investing in India.
A 27-member delegation drawn from both the main business chambers
met Manmohan Singh Sunday afternoon ahead of the India-China trade
and investment meeting Monday. The delegation was led by Sunil
Bharti Mittal, president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII),
and Habil Khorakiwala, president of the Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).
Manmohan Singh, the quintessential globaliser, told the CEOs in what
was clearly seen as a policy statement that "the rise of China and
India should be viewed as an 'international public good' by the
global community."
In the meeting attended by Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and National
Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, the business leaders were clearly
told that the government had no reservations about Chinese
investment other than "locational sensitivity" in regard to one or
two places.
The government welcomes Chinese investment in infrastructure
projects in India and had even cleared a power project by a Chinese
company in Jammu and Kashmir in a joint venture with the Jindals,
the CEOs were told.
Urging Indian businessmen to "think big", the prime minister said:
"Indian business is ready to face the brave new world of
globalization. China is an important part of that brave new world.
We must engage China and learn to both compete and cooperate."
He said it was a "historic necessity" for the two neighbours to work
together. "There will be areas of competition, and there will be
areas for cooperation. There is enough space for both countries to
continue to grow and address the developmental aspirations of their
peoples."
Manmohan Singh said a large part of the thinking in India about
China was shaped by Western views on China and added that there was
need for greater investment in India and a better understanding of
the processes of change in China.
At present Chinese investment in India was almost negligible, while
Indian investment stands marginally better in the range of $50-60
million even as two-way trade booms and has touched almost $38
billion. It was set to cross the $40 billion target well before the
2010 target date announced by the two countries five years ago.
Nevertheless, people like Khorakiwala, who is the chairman of pharma
major Wockhardt, brought before the prime minister and the commerce
minister some of the restrictive trade practices that Indian
businessmen are facing in China and urged him to address them in his
meetings with Chinese leaders Monday and Tuesday.
Predatory pricing by the Chinese had forced four Indian companies to
close down in China in recent months. And the Chinese, after
lowering the price that made Indian generic drugs uncompetitive in
the Chinese market, raised the prices again after the exit of the
Indian companies from China.
The meeting was attended also by Narendra Goyal, chairman, Jet
Airways, Pawan Munjal, CEO of Hero Honda Motors, Subhash Chandra,
chairman, Zee Entertainment, Vinod Mittal, MD of Ispat Industries,
Amit Mitra, secretary general of FICCI and Lt Gen (retd) S.S. Mehta,
director general of CII.
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