ICC delegation explores Indonesia

The delegation attended the India ASEAN Business Seminars in Jakarta and Bali and had meetings with various Government and business organisations.

The delegation led by Sumit Mazumder, Senior Vice President, including Shiv Siddhant Kaul, Chairman, YLF, Raju Bharat, Chairman Tourism Committee and Dr. Rajeev Singh, Director General ICC.

A sailing expedition of Indian navy Ship INS Sudarshini has been organised by the government to celebrate the 20th year of ASEAN and the ship would travel to all the ASEAN countries with Indonesia being the first such port.

The ICC, Kolkata in association with the Embassy of India, Jakarta & Kadin Chambers, Jakarta organized the ASEAN India Business Seminar in Jakarta.

Mahendra Siregar, Vice Minister of Finance, Republic of Indonesia was the Chief Guest and Gurjit Singh, Indian Ambassador in Indonesia delivered the keynote address on “India’s ASEAN Way”.

The Forum was also addressed by Supriyadi, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Subhas Bose Pillai Director Market Integration, ASEAN Economic Community Department, Bob Kamandanu, Chairman Indonesia Coal Mining Association, Dr. Umapathy Panyala, CEO Apollo Hospitals, Raju Bharat, MD Kenilworth Hotels, Satish Mishra, Managing Director, Strategic Asia, Fadel Muhamad, Chairman Indonesia Agribusiness Community and many others.

The Business Forum had specific sessions about investment opportunities in the infrastructure, energy and mining sector, healthcare and tourism, and of course on agro and food processing sector.

The Indian delegation also had successful focused meetings with Board of Investment Indonesia (BKPM), Ministry of Trade and the Tourism Department of Indonesia.

There are some Indian companies that already operate in Indonesia especially in the infrastructure, energy and automotive sectors like Essar, IL & FS, TVS, Bajaj with Tata Motors being a recent entrant.

Yet there are issues to bilateral trade between two countries like need for local partner, majority stake with local companies and many other non tariff barriers. Healthcare and pharmaceuticals companies from India have been facing some of these barriers.

However the healthcare major of India, Apollo is confident of overcoming these problems and to start operations by early next year.

Another area is skill development where India can substantially cooperate with Indonesia.

There are no direct flight connectivity between India and Indonesia and this is certainly a major hindrance for tourism and business.

Even after much discussion between national aviation companies of both the countries, not much in routes have been made.

The ICC delegation requested the tourism authority of Indonesia to pursue Garuda airlines to start flight operations with India.

The outbound tourism in India is growing and this could be an opportunity for Indonesian Tourism Industry also.

Indonesia is well poised to develop its other island apart from Bali as a tourism hub and accordingly land is being allocated to develop both luxury and budget properties but the regulations have to be made favourable for foreign investment.

In spite of the fact that Indonesia is a large importer of bovine meat, and India being a large exporter, the Indian meat is exported to Malaysia which in turn is re exported to Indonesia.

In the agro and food processing sector, India is certainly much ahead in areas of food processing and technology.

The Indonesian agri business would certainly benefit from the transfer of technology and know how in food processing and even in area of packaging to substantially enhance its export potential.

A similar business forum followed by B2B meetings was organized in Bali at the premises of Bank Indonesia which had Dwi Pranoto, Executive Director, Regional Head, Bank Indonesia, Made Mangku Pastika, Governor of Bali, lr. Made Astana, Executive Director, Bali Chamber of Commerce & Industry, I. Putu Gede Suwartaya, Chief of Promotion & Cooperation Department, Bali Investment Agency, Raju Bharat, MD, Kenilworth Hotels, Ida Bagus Kade Subhiksu, Head, Department of Tourism among the prominent speakers.

Gurjit Singh, Ambassador of India in Indonesia summed the entire business session urging for continuous endeavour from both sides to bring businesses closer.

The ICC shall be organising similar delegations to Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Mynamar over next 5 months coinciding with the arrival of Indian Naval ship “Sudirshini” at various ports in these countries.

Sourced: indiablooms