Abu Dhabi: Terming India as a “shining star” among all the global economies, the Indian Commerce Minister has invited businessmen from the UAE to invest in India and take advantage of the many investment opportunities being provided by the growing economy.
“The environment is favourable for investors to look at India. India is a shining star from among all the global economies with nearly 7.2 per cent growth rate, which is far higher than many economies can imagine. Even the Chinese economy is slowing down,” said Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, while speaking at the India-UAE Investment Forum in Abu Dhabi late on Monday.
She said that the government has undertaken a number of steps to curb red tape and increase the ease of doing business with less paper work and online transactions.
“By June this year, 98 steps have been taken by all the state governments so that the ease of doing business is enhanced. We shall make ease of doing business a simple online mission so that paper work is reduced,” she said.
On reservations about investing in India based on past experiences, the Commerce Minister said tax terrorism is not going to be the case and retrospective decisions are not going to happen currently.
“I would like to give assurance to investors that this government is willing to hear, willing to listen, willing to help.”
Speaking about Make in India project launched by the present government, she said a lot of activity has taken place on this initiative.
As part of her two-day visit to the UAE, Sitharaman participated in the third meeting of the India-UAE High Level Task Force on Investment on Tuesday apart from meeting business leaders from the UAE.
The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi said in a statement on Tuesday that the minister called on His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, at the Sea Palace, and had a bilateral meeting with Lt. General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.
At the India-UAE High Level Task Force on Investment meet held in Abu Dhabi, both sides agreed to explore ways to expand the participation of the UAE’s investment institutions in appropriate infrastructure projects in India, especially in railways, ports, roads and airports.
The visit by the Commence Minister comes two months after Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s visit to the UAE and subsequent trip by the UAE Foreign Minister, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to India in September.
The bilateral trade between India and the UAE stands at $60 billion for the year 2014-15. India is the UAE’s second largest trading partner and the UAE is India’s third largest trading partner after China and the US.
The two countries are planning to increase trade by 60 per cent in the next five years, and have set up an investment fund of $75 billion to invest in Indian infrastructure mainly in roads, ports and railways.
