The companies, in association with the Indo-American Joint Business Council, are holding an investment summit in Calcutta to forge deals in the northeastern and eastern states.
An association of eastern states makes a bid for US investment
The companies, in association with the Indo-American Joint Business Council, are holding an investment summit in Calcutta to forge deals in the northeastern and eastern states.
For a change, the eastern states too have got their minds together and organised themselves to present their potential to foreign investors. Led by West Bengal, eight states from eastern India—Bihar, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Orissa and Tripura—have come together to form a quadrangular development region along with neighbouring countries of Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The aim of this association is to attract investment from the US and other foreign countries, and also to establish strategic business linkages with Southeast Asian countries.
R.P. Goenka, a prominent Calcutta industrialist and one of the principal brains behind the idea, explains its rationale: "The slowing down of the Southeast Asian economies coupled with their increasing wages have forced American corporations to look towards India to shift their production bases. And the Northeast and the eastern region, which is increasingly opening up its doors to liberalise the trade and investment regime, offers huge opportunities for them." For the first time, the eastern states, which have traditionally been passive watchers in India's industrial and economic development, have done their homework really well. The states have identified a total of 137 projects which would be offered for investment. The details of these projects have already been circulated on the Internet in American and Indian business websites for the benefit of potential investors.
Of these projects, 38 are in agro-industries, 27 in the energy sector including oil, gas and power, 22 in minerals and metals, 18 in the information technology sector, 12 in transport and infrastructure, eight in construction, four in textiles and leather and two in financial services apart from six others. The cumulative value of all the projects put together is a whopping $55 billion or over Rs 200,000 crore. "We aim to realise at least five to seven per cent of the total projects proposed in this summit itself. If these succeed, the remaining will automatically get foreign investment," says Goenka. This, if realised, would translate roughly to an inflow of about $5 to 6 billion for the region.
This week's summit at Calcutta, 'The Emerging East', is being utilised exclusively to exhibit the potential of these states to American companies. The US side will be led by American Commerce Secretary William Daley who is on an official visit to India, and will include some of the top brass from American corporates including Enron Corporation, Timex, Bry-Air, the Fremont Group, American Group, the Chatterjee Group, Chubb Corporation, Raytheon, Unocal Power, AES Transpower, Bechtel Corporation, Esso Petroleum, Chase Manhattan Bank, United Technologies, Westinghouse and Space Systems.
According to Goenka, one of the aims of the meet would be to explore prospects of production in India for third country exports. Issues like the supply of power from Nepal to northern India and bringing a gas pipeline into India via Bangladesh are also expected to be finalised.
While both the eastern states and the American investors are extremely hopeful, this is not the first time foreign investors have shown interest in investing in India. However, with most of them complaining of complex rules and procedures and political interference coupled with corruption, it remains to be seen how many of these proposed investments actually see the light of day.