Zambia welcomes Indian investment in various sectors

The Zambian government wanted Indian investments in agriculture, tourism, energy, manufacturing and infrastructure developing and would support investors in every possible way, an official said today.
Citing its stable political system and positive and investor friendly economic environment, in an interaction here organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Zambia High Commissioner Brig. Gen. Patrick Tembo said: "Our vision is to market our country and so we are welcoming investors from India to enhance trade, investment and warm bilateral relations."
Tembo, who was accompanied by First Secretary Mukela Mutukwa, said that India is one of the key sources of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Zambia.

Highlighting that Zambia has a stable and growing economy Mukela made a presentation on Zambian economy which is having six per cent annual growth in GDP.
"We are among the top 10 fastest economic growing nations in the world... And the World Bank's Doing Business (2014) has rated us 83 out 189 nations globally making it a good investment destination," Mukela said.
Currently, the main Indian investors in Zambia are Vedanta Resources, Tata Africa Holdings, Kalpataru Power, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Exim Bank of India.

Direct FDI, Joint ventures, Private Equity and Local listing are the few routes to investing in Zambia, he said, adding that the country offers investment incentives of zero per cent for corporate income for first five years.

"Zambia also offers investment incentives on import duty on Capital goods machinery and specialised vehicles.
"The government wants to create a similar exclusive multi-facility economic zone (MFEZ) for Indian companies and want Indian firms to focus on supply of equipment and processing of raw products," he said.
Zambia is trying to promote the sector through development of essential infrastructure including hotels, convention centres, theme parks especially Kasaba Bay (Northern Circuit) and Livingstone Tourism Zone, the first secretary said.
There is good scope for investment and joint ventures with Zambian institutions, universities and enterprises in education and skill development, tourism, IT and IT-enabled services, he stated.