Destination India Kicks Off Today

The two-day global summit on investment opportunities in the country, called 'Destination India', gets underway in New Delhi today.

The jamboree, organised jointly by the industry ministry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci), is expected to bring together over 500 delegates from domestic and foreign corporates, besides scores of government officials.

Early last month, Ficci organised road shows abroad, including in the UK and Germany, to seek support of the business community there for participation in the global meet.

Sources said the UK-based companies were not very responsive initially as they felt that enough exposure had already been given to investment opportunities in India by the various delegations that have visited the country since the beginning of liberalisation.

 

However, on being given the details of the conference, the value-addition that is possible and the fact that for the first time the government of India was organising such a conference with Ficci, trade and industry officials in the UK government assured Ficci that they would use their good offices to persuade the corporates to participate in the conference, sources said.

Participation in the meeting at Dusseldorf, Germany, was also not good, the sources said. The sources attributed it to the holiday season and the short notice to the German corporates about the meeting.

Ficci president Deepak Banker told the press on the eve of Destination India: We in Ficci consider it a privilege that the government has reposed faith in us to act as a nodal point to stimulate investment into the country. As a partner in progress, our effort is to create an atmosphere which seeks to synergise the domestic capabilities with technology and resources internationally available. The corporates attending the mega event include GE, BMW AG, Honda, Daewoo Power, Danone Power, Hoechst, Pfizer, Hughes Network etc.

Hyundai, Marubeni, Phillip Morris, Swiss Telecom, Fiat and Mitsui.

Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo, Sakura Bank, Banque Nationale De Paris, Emirates Bank International, Citibank, Krung Thai Bank are also attending it.

The meeting will discuss India's monetary policy, investment prospects in the country, the WTO trade regime, role of Indian missions in seeking investment from abroad, research & development, sourcing from India, investment opportunities in the infrastructure sector, potentials in hydrocarbon and energy sector, agribusiness and food processing, information technology, environmental technology and financial services.