Canadian companies invited to invest in India

I / Toronto July 22, 2009, 11:21 IST

India today invited Canadian companies to invest in the trillion-dollar Indian economy that has continued to grow despite the global meltdown, citing a vibrant democracy, strong English proficiency among population and an entrepreneurship drive as the country's strength.

"Canadian companies, businesses and even academic institutions and universities should invest in India as the country's trillion-dollar economy would continue to grow and is exposed to minimum risk," Consul General of India Preeti Saran said while inaugurating an international seminar here.

She said: "Just as the Chinese economy has shown signs of resilience and grew over seven per cent inspite of the global financial slowdown, India too grew at 6.7 per cent," she said at a seminar on Capitalising Opportunities in Emerging Markets: Focus on China and India.

She said India's strength lied in its vibrant democracy, rule of law, a strong English proficiency base among its population, a skilled workforce, an entrepreneurship drive among its businessmen and above all a very young population that will be the engine of growth for an aging world.

With the exception of China and India, Saran said, very few countries were likely to witness reasonable economic growth in the coming years."Therefore, it is a high time for Canadian companies to consider investing in India," Saran said.

Arun Nagarajan, President and CEO, State Bank of India (Canada), said that the bank with over 11,600 branches in the country could help Canadian firms in taking judicious business decisions and Indian business organisations like CII, ASSOCHAM and FICCI could assist them in finding business partners.

Hari Pandey, President, Wealth Management, North American Region of ICICI said India offers vast opportunities for Canadian companies whether they were big, medium or small.

He demanded a review of the Canada India Tax Treaty.