Author: V.K. Raghunathan
Publication: The Straits Times
Date: June 20, 2003
URL: http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,195426,00.html?
Now is the time to invest, especially
in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and information technology sectors:
Survey
China is being touted as a land
of opportunities for Indian companies just before Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee's visit.
A survey by the Confederation of
Indian Industry (CII) identified the information technology (IT), pharmaceutical
and biotechnology sectors as particularly promising.
It sought to identify investment
opportunities and help Indians to understand the Chinese market better
ahead of Mr Vajpayee's trip from Sunday to June 27.
Coinciding with that will be a visit
to Beijing and Shanghai by a 30-member delegation of Indian chief executive
officers, led by CII president Anand Mahindra.
The CII survey said: 'China is a
highly complex but profitable economy for companies operating in knowledge-based
sectors, and the best time to enter China is now.
'Indian companies should enter China's
market as soon as possible to best take advantage of China's exponential
economic growth. Delayed entrance will be difficult and costly.'
The survey said the size of the
Chinese IT market is expected to grow to about US$90 billion (S$155 billion)
in 2006 from US$40 billion this year.
'The Chinese market has been hardware
driven so far and local software companies are able to meet only 50 per
cent of domestic requirements,' it said.
Its pharmaceuticals sector is expected
to triple in size to US$24 billion by 2010, the survey said.
Indian multinational companies with
'superior research and development capabilities and experience in marketing,
distribution, and sales' were the 'best- positioned' to move into this
market.
In biotechnology, the Chinese government's
devotion to developing its nascent life science industry and research guaranteed
a long-term, growing demand for reagents.
'Currently, China is incapable of
producing the high-quality reagents necessary for the level of research
its government demands.
'China must therefore rely on imports
over the long term. The reagent market is expected to grow more than 60
per cent annually,' the survey said.
It identified five types of reagents
as promising - immuno-blotting, Sanger sequencing, in situ hybridisation,
chromosome mapping, and bacteriophage plaque. Their sales in China were
worth US$2 million in 2001.
The CII also plans to set up an
'India Club' in Shanghai, develop a India- China joint chief executive
officers' forum and host a high-tech show and 'Made in India' show in Beijing
in October.
Mr Vajpayee will address a joint
India-China business meeting in Beijing during his visit, the first in
a decade by an Indian prime minister, to boost the US$5 billion trade between
the two countries.
He will also discuss other matters
in an effort to develop 'trust, understanding and confidence' between the
two Asian giants.
China's Ambassador to India, Mr
Hua Junduo, writing in The Hindu, said: 'History will eventually prove
that China and India are partners and not rivals.
