Indonesia may see more trades and investments from India, one of Asia’s emerging giants, in particular in sectors such as textile and electricity, says the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) business group.
“People are coming … for example, Lakshmi Machine Works [Limited]. They are the largest in the world today,” CII chairman and electronics device manufacturer NICCO Corporation Ltd representative, Rajive Kaul, said Thursday, after meeting Indonesian Industry Ministry officials at the ministry.
Lakshmi is a leading textile machinery manufacturer in India and one of the three firms in the world producing the entire range of spinning machinery.
Kaul said that so far, investments in Indonesia from India had amounted to well over US$2 billion, with the two-way trade balance between the two Asian countries exceeding over $10 billion.
India, according to Kaul, expects to double its import-export relationship with Indonesia —currently at $10.06 billion — in the next five years. That’s why new investment is important to accelerate trade between the two countries.
Industry Minister Fahmi Idris said the ministry had invited the Indian delegation to bolster economic relations, including in textile sector where the Indonesian government was putting in place measures to help the industry’s machinery revitalization program. “We invited them [Indian companies] to enter into joint ventures [with local companies] here to manufacture textile machines.”
There would soon be a “technical” meeting between the ministry’s director general for metal, machinery, textile and miscellaneous industries, Ansari Bukhari, and officials of prospective Indian companies, to discuss a plan to produce spinning, waving and dying machines, Fahmi said, to follow up Thursday’s meeting.
Also, Fahmi said the government invited Indian firms to help develop its power sector, as the government’s ongoing efforts — the so-called first and second power plant programs, each designed to produce 10,000 megawatt (MW) — would no longer suffice to meet domestic demand.
“The first phase is to generate 10,000 MW, and so is the second phase. By 2015, that won’t be enough anymore. We expect a third phase in 2015 where we will generate another 10,000 MW,” Fahmi said.
