Consulate General of India in Shanghai along with Zhejiang Communications Investment Group (CICO) jointly organized an India China (Zhejiang) Business and Investment Forum in Hangzhou (located in Zhejiang Province) on June 16, 2017.

2. The objective of the Business and Investment Forum was to introduce the investment opportunities available to Chinese companies in India in sectors like infrastructure, urban transportation, smart cities, renewable energy, power and tourism as part of the ‘Make in India’  initiative.

3. A delegation of 12 plus Indian companies comprising CEO’s of Confederation of Indian Industry, Tech Mahindra, Evalueserve, Deloitte, Aditya Birla Group, NIIT, Ngage Impex, Top Travel & Tours along with Legal Consulting and Business Advisory Firms like Link Legal and Banks like State Bank of India and Canara Bank, made presentations on sectors like Urban Transportation, Smart Cities, New Energy Vehicles, Banking, IT, Tourism and Legal guidelines for setting up businesses in India.

4. Vice-Mayor of Hangzhou Mr. Xie Shuangcheng welcomed the Indian delegation and urged business leaders from Hangzhou to establish greater synergies between Indian and Chinese industries and encouraged Hangzhou-based companies to aggressively explore investment opportunities in the Indian market. General Manager of Zhejiang CICO Mr. Zhan Xiaozhang in his welcome address mentioned that the forum offered a great opportunity for companies from Zhejiang to understand the current investment climate in India and explore opportunities of cooperation with the help of participating Indian companies.

5. Consul General Prakash Gupta led the Indian delegation and gave an overview of the investment climate in India and called on companies from Hangzhou to make full use of the investment opportunities available to Chinese companies in India.

6. During the India-China (Zhejiang) Business and Investment Forum, a presentation on the Indian Buddhist Tourism Circuit was also made, given the significant interest shown by Chinese tourists in visiting Buddhist sites in India.

7. A series of B2B meetings were also held between participating Indian companies with their Chinese counterparts from Hangzhou, which generated significant business leads for the participating companies.

8. It is expected that as a follow up to the Business Forum, Hangzhou city leadership is likely to lead an investors’ delegation to visit India in second half of 2017 to explore tangible investment opportunities under flagship initiatives of the Government like ‘Make in India’, and ‘Smart Cities’.

9. A comprehensive information kit containing pen drive with detailed information on the investment guidelines, investment/projects list till end 2017, state wise profiles, visa guidelines etc. (all in Chinese) was distributed to all the Chinese participating companies.

10. In addition, as part of the India Week celebrations in Hangzhou, an Indian Food Festival, Indian Film Festival, Indian Arts Exhibition – showcasing artworks from Gupta Period of Indian History, Buddhism, and calligraphic rendition, in Chinese, of some of the Sanskrit verses from the ancient Indian text of Bhagavad Gita - were also organized at leading public venues in Hangzhou. All these events showcasing various facets of India received very enthusiastic response from Hangzhou audiences as large number of local people turned up to participate in the India Week celebrations.

11. Earlier, Vice-Mayor of Hangzhou Mr. Xie Shuangcheng received the Indian delegation led by Consul General and discussed ways and means to further promote all round cultural and economic cooperation between India and Hangzhou.

12. It may be noted that Hangzhou (located in Zhejiang) is a key industrial hub thriving on private enterprises, start-ups and is also the Headquarter of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. The city hosted G20 Summit in September, 2016 and has been awarded 2022 Asian Games.

Hangzhou (Zhejiang)

16 June 2017