India for promoting biz ties among Commonwealth nations

India today said business ties among the Commonwealth countries should be promoted, besides focusing on the sporting events, as member countries stand to gain and the country could take a lead in it.

"Trade between commonwealth countries is already $4 trillion and India's own trade with commonwealth nations is $80 billion and it is growing," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said at the CWG business club meet here.

He said India's skills in the information technology sector could be tapped for the benefit of the CW member countries.

"We want to share our experiences, our technologies which are affordable, which are available for our partners in Africa, Asia and the rest of the Commonwealth countries," Sharma said.

Talking about business opportunities generated by sports, Commonwealth Games Federation President Michael Fennel said: "Sports is new big business. CWG is not as big as Olympics, but we have our own opportunities.

"Sports is a continuous relation between big event, small event and athletes. Hope this (CWG) will create new business opportunities."

Industry chamber Ficci President Rajan Mittal said there are lot of countries, mainly in Africa, who are not engaged with India but hope to do so in areas such as climate change, innovation, infrastructure, tourism and healthcare.

"Corporate India needs to participate and corporate India will only participate if the rules, regulations with sports and sports organisations are opened up... Associations need to be democratised," he added.

Bajaj Auto Chairman Rahul Bajaj said if the CWG becomes a success story like the opening ceremony, it will bring confidence. "People will be encouraged to bring in more FDI."