Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, while addressing at the India-Russia CEOs Council meet Friday said that in recent years, India and Russia have established strong business ties and both the nations have emphasised the need for investment cooperation in a number of sectors.
‘Indian companies are quickly establishing themselves in Russia and there is a great possibility of Russian companies to invest in India, especially in the power sector,’ said Kamal Nath.
Giving out a figure, the minister said that till March 31, 2008 Indian investments in Russian companies were amounted to a total of USD 744.1-million, while India had received USD 144-million through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in which medical & surgical appliances, hotel & tourism, food processing industries contribute the most.
Stressing on the need to invest more in Indian power sector, Kamal Nath said that India’s energy requirements are going to increase manifold over the next 10-15 years and here is heavy investment scopes for Russian companies.
Besides, the minister also talked about other major sectors with immense possibility of joint investments which include banking, information technology, telecommunications, high-technology sectors, pharmaceuticals and textiles.
On global recession, Nath said that the economies of both the countries would bounce back soon thanks to its strong fundamentals and large domestic demand, while to curb the impact of recession, India is also trying hard with several measures.
“We too are taking measures to inject growth dynamism back into our economy; we are cutting bank rates and easing statutory reserve requirements to inject liquidity into the system, we are also looking at creating demand impetus in a number of sectors, especially consumer driven industries and exported-oriented ones,” he said.
Even in this fiscal, the critical agricultural sectors, which was facing investment crunch, have bounced back with a growth rate of nearly 4%, said the Commerce Minister.
‘This growth rate is a significant contribution to inclusiveness, which is vital for India as it helps sustain domestic consumption, which will sustain our growth story in the short, medium and long term,’ he added.
India imports drugs, pharmaceuticals & fine chemicals, RMG cotton including accessories, tea, coffee, tobacco un-manufactured, processed minerals, plastic & linoleum products, machinery & instruments, transport equipments, electronic goods etc. from Russia, while India exports iron & steel, non-ferrous metals, coal, coke, newsprint, silver, synthetic & reclaimed rubber etc.
Carrying forward the old Indo-Soviet friendship, both the countries have developed a strong bilateral trade and economic relationship that has now touched USD 1613.56-million.
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