Business opportunities with Commonwealth Indian States (CIS) galore: Capoor

Ludhiana, September 18, 2014: Sharing that there are vast business opportunities available with Commonwealth of Indian States, CIS, Ravi Capoor, Joint Secretary (CIS), Department of Commerce, Government of India stated that the Department of Commerce, Govt. of India, was focusing on several emerging markets such as Africa, ASEAN, Latin America and the CIS Region. He spoke about the trade pattern with the CIS region, wherein the majority of trade takes place with Russia, followed by Ukraine, share of other nations being negligible.
Capoor was speaking during an Interactive Session on “Opening New Markets: Destination CIS” organized by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, here today. He was the chief guest on the occasion.
Also, India constituted less than 2% of the total trade with CIS/Eurasia. There are significant opportunities for bilateral economic cooperation in sectors such as oil, gas, IT, machinery, energy, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, chemicals, processed food, tourism and entertainment.  He mentioned about the ease of doing business index where the CIS countries are ranked relatively high vis-à-vis other developing countries. He emphasized on the close proximity of India and the CIS countries and cited that this was a major advantage for boosting bilateral economic cooperation.
Some other opportunities that the CIS region offered, said Capoor, included large untapped market base of a population of 300 million, high investment potential due to poor manufacturing base, abundance of natural resources such as petroleum, natural gas, uranium, etc. The CIS countries wanted to explore sectors to set up manufacturing base. There was also scope for using their technological/scientific institutions.
Earlier, G.S. Kular, Zonal Convener-Ludhiana, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, while welcoming the Chief Guest highlighted that the CIS Countries offered wealth of opportunities in view of the rapidly growing markets due to high GDP growth, vast natural resources, political stability, well educated workforce, etc.  He highlighted that in the current global economic scenario the CIS region is emerging as an important trade and investment destination.
Dalip Sharma, Regional Director, PHD Chamber, pointed out that most countries such as France, Italy and China had already invested in the areas of construction, infrastructure and had set up units in their economic zones. He felt that Indian businesses should also look at the CIS region and not miss the opportunity.  
Capoor urged the business community from Ludhiana to organize group visits to these countries for a tourism visit which would also give them an opportunity to see for themselves the vast opportunities. Indian businesses, shared Capoor, were hesitant to do business with CIS countries as they perceived it to be a tough market, this is largely due to lack of awareness of business opportunities amongst the business class of India.
He discussed various incentives undertaken by the Government of India to strengthen bilateral ties between India and the CIS nations, like Focus CIS Programme, India-CIS Roadmap 2020 and the latest being the India-specific shows (2014-2015) in the CIS region.
During the discussion session, the participants raised issues regarding visa norms, lines of credit, registration of Indian businesses/products, profit repatriation, distribution network, etc.
S C Ralhan, Regional Chairman (Northern Region), FIEO, K.K. Seth, Chairman, Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisation (FICO),  M S Dhillon, Joint DGFT, G S Kahlon, President Auto Parts Manufacturers Association were also present on the occasion.
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