The Indian Merchant's Chamber made it very clear that the one-day conference was meant to persuade Chinese companies to invest more in India. That's because India's trade deficit with China widened to a record of nearly 40 billion US dollars in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, a 42 percent increase from the previous fiscal year, and nearly one-fifth of India's overall trade deficit with the world. "We are looking at a district to see if there are infrastructure opportunities for large investments and large projects in India where the
Chinese could invest and do built, operate and transport," said Niranjan Hiranandani. The president added that agreements have already been signed for China to invest in and build a high-speed railway system and modernize existing railway platforms. Indian business leaders also pledged to continue investing here in China, especially in eastern China, which generates one-third of the trade between the two countries. "Well, in Shanghai region, when I say Shanghai region, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, these three provinces, we have about 150 companies, from IT sector, from manufacturing, from pharmaceuticals. Some are trading companies, basically sourcing from China and selling it to India. So it's happening both ways, it's not just Chinese companies, it's Indian companies also. And we would like this two-way investments to increase further," said Naveen Srivastava. Bilateral trade has grown dramatically from 3 billion US dollars in 2001 to 74 billion in 2011, and leaders in both countries want that number to hit 100 billion by 2015. Source: ICS - International Channel Shanghai. Interview With Indian Ambassador To China: There have been numerous reports recently about China's plan to invest 300 billion US dollars in India over the
next 5 years. A large portion of the money will go to the energy and telecom industries. But there has also been plenty of debate about whether the investment will be beneficial to either side. He Jian had a chance to talk to Ashok K. Kantha, India's ambassador to China about the investment climate in his country and its prospects for improvement. Source: ICS - International Channel Shanghai,
