India, Switzerland To Sign Pact On Investment Protection Today

An Indo-Swiss investment protection agreement will be signed between the two governments in New Delhi today, Jean Pascal Delamuraz, federal councilor of Switzerland, said at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in the capital yesterday.

Delamuraz is heading a Swiss delegation that is in the country on a two-day business visit. He identified infrastructure, financial services, energy and telecommunications as the main areas for future investment.

Industry secretary T R Prasad said at the meeting that intellectual property rights, opening up of the insurance sector and bureaucratic delays in processing proposals were discussed during the delegations meeting with the industry ministry.

India imported goods worth Swiss Fr 666.3 million from Switzerland and exported goods worth Swiss Fr 367 million in 1997. Machinery and chemicals comprise 80 per cent of the imports from Switzerland. Among Indian exports, textile comprises over 45 per cent.

Delamuraz said many Indo-Swiss joint ventures had been forged over the last five years, though mainly between medium-size companies.

Andres F Leuenberger, president of the Swiss Federation of Commerce & Industry, said the Swiss business community hoped to get greater access to the banking, engineering, insurance and transport sectors in India.

Important Swiss industries like textiles, watches and food processing did not form a part of the trade between the two countries, he said.

The Swiss ambassador to India wanted to know if the recently announced budget for 1997-98 would be passed by Parliament in view of the political turmoil.

Former CII president Dhruv Sawhney, replying to the query, said the chamber felt that no government at the Centre would nullify the budget and that it would be passed eventually, though certain modifications might be incorporated.