SEA sets up $5 billion China India Development Fund for infra projects

Shanghai Entrepreneur Association is looking for partners in joint ventures for various infra projects

Chinese Premier Xi might have visited Ahmedabad hardly a couple of months back. But, talk of Chinese business interests in Gujarat, the ball has already been set in motion with the establishment of the $ 5 billion China India Development Fund (CIDF) by the Shanghai Entrepreneur Association (SEA)  in partnership with China India Trade & Investment Centre (CITIC).

The SEA, established in 2008, comprises leading companies in various fields like Fusun Group, Shan Shan Group, Pengxin Group, Green Land Group, 3S Airlines, apart from many other chambers and entrepreneurs.

According to a statement from the CITIC here, the core entrepreneurs of SEA have a net worth of $1,000 billion. Jagat Shah, secretary general of CITIC said, “The CIDF has been launched in Ahmedabad for highways, smart cities and rail projects by a group of Chinese business houses. This group had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Xi’s visit to India. While the net worth of these Chinese business houses is around $ 1,000 billion, to start with CIDF plans a fund of $ 5 billion for India, of which around $ 1 billion is for Gujarat.”

CITIC will be the Indian partner in the CIDF, and it has around 140 member companies at the moment.

One of the leading companies of the SEA, Shanghai Pengxin Group has three listed companies in mainland China, one listed company in Hong Kong. It is a private conglomerate with a diversified business scope covering real estate development, urban infrastructure construction, high-tech Investment and Investment in industry & commerce. The group now has more than 40 subsidiary companies, either wholly-owned or largely-owned, with the total assets reaching over 10 billion renminbi.

Shah informed that the Pengxin Group has raised a fund of $15 billion to invest in India in the field of infrastructure (highways, railways, ports), and new city construction. “While $15 billion is the total outlay planned over five years, the CIDF has been floated with an initial corpus of $ 5 billion,”Shah clarified.

The SEA is basically looking for Indian partners in various ways, including joint ventures for rail projects, highway projects, smart city projects and new city development projects. According to the CIDF brochure the SEA companies are interested to work with “highly respected and local companies in India, good relationship with India Central government or state government, experienced in infrastructure or city construction and good financial status and with HR advantage.”

According to the statement, CIDF is looking for new investing projects in India, like trans-state highways, inter-state highways, city ring-roads, transportation hubs;high speed railways, electric railways, city track traffic, subways; International sea ports, airport construction, container wharf, iron ore wharf, passengers wharf; and city constructions, town construction, satellite city, industry and logistic zone, real estate, etc.