India welcomes Chinese investments: Ashwani Kumar

New Delhi, Nov 13 (UNI) India will welcome investments from China, except in some areas where closer look is required for security reasons, Minister of State for Industry Ashwani Kumar said here today.

''We have to deepen the engagement with China to increase bilateral trade to 50 billion dollars by 2010,'' Mr Kumar said.

China has a policy of mutual respect, conciliation and complementarity with regard to India which are being reciprocated, he added.

''China and India will work together but we have to recognise that there will be competition as well for markets, technology, raw materials and energy,'' he said while addressing a CII conference on 'India-China: Building Synergies'.

Indian companies need to brace themselves for competition from Chinese ones in addition to the challenges they are already facing from the Western multinationals.

The government, to attract foreign investment from China into India, has decided to develop investment regions, as distinct from special economic zones.

''These will be 200-250 square km in area and have world-class infrastructure. They will be propellers for investment into India.

We have decided on these to overcome the lack of resources for developing infrastructure.'' Indian economy is driven by technology and skill-based manufacturing as well as the services sector. India's other advantage is that it has a large percentage of working population whereas China's population is graying, the minister added.

To boost bilateral trade, Mr Nair said India should beef up its infrastructure, introduce flexible labour laws and add value to its exports. On the other hand, China needs to reduce its subsidies and non-performing assets and improve its labour standards.

The Vice Chairman of CII Northern Region, Mr Deep Kapuria said that there is a need for India to export value-added products to China as also to diversify the export basket for China.

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