India’s Top CEOs Visit Indonesia to Boost Business Relationship – Article taken from The Jakarta Globe

Jakarta. India’s top CEOs along with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) are visiting Indonesia and will be staying for two days, July 18-19. Their visit is aimed at strengthening the economic relationship between Indonesia and India.

Indonesia-India bilateral trade topped $15.9 million in 2015-2016, making Indonesia India’s largest foreign investment target among Asean countries. There are approximately 50 Indian investment projects and joint ventures in various sectors in Indonesia at the moment.

“Indonesia is a very attractive market with many business opportunities in almost all sectors,” CII president Naushad Forbes said at a press conference in Jakarta on Monday (18/07).

“There are huge opportunities to increase trade between the two countries in the automotive, pharmaceutical, IT, health, bio-technology and engineering sectors,” Naushad said.

According to Naushad, the visit is not only about increasing Indian investment in Indonesia, but also to enable reciprocal Indonesian investment in India. India has a growth domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.5 percent in the last two years and Indonesian food processing companies are contributing to that number.

“We’ll help Indonesian companies open businesses in India and work with Indian partners, giving equal access to businesses in both countries,” Naushad said.

“I know there are already three food processing plants owned by Indonesian companies in India. Even though Indonesia’s presence in India is still small, I’m sure it will grow exponentially in the next few years,” Naushad said.

Meanwhile, Godrej Group leader Adi Godrej spoke about the company’s contribution to the Indonesian economy at the press conference, highlighting Indian companies’ contribution to the local economy.

“We already employ 5,000 people in Indonesia and we plan to open a new factory in Surabaya,” Godrej said.

Godrej believes Indonesia’s partnership with India has offered benefits for both countries.

“We [Indonesia & India] are two of three largest democracies in the world, along with the US. We have very similar markets, economically and demographically, which will only help us build more strategic partnerships,” Godrej said.