Chinese business lobby to push investments in India

New Delhi - With growing trade and business ties, an industry lobby has been set up to help Chinese firms understand the corporate culture in India and promote their interests by helping address issues such as delays in visas and project approvals.

The Chindia Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), with over 100 companies as members, aims to address issues specific to Chinese businesses here, particularly when India has put economic reforms on the fast track to attract more foreign investment.

"CCCI has been formed in response to the need felt by the Chinese companies to analyse and understand the corporate interests in India," Li Jian Amit, secretary general of the chamber, told IANS.

India-China merchandise trade recorded an increase of almost 20 percent in 2011 at $73.90 billion. As per China's commerce ministry, Chinese direct investments into India till December 2011 stood at $575.70 million.

Li said after two-three decades of growth at home, Chinese companies know better than Western companies about competing in low-priced Indian markets.

"Their comparative advantage is their ability to provide products and services that suit India's market demands and are more cost-effective than Western competitors."

But he pointed to the long delays faced by Chinese companies in getting a nod to register their project offices or Indian subsidiaries, which were holding up projects.

"Stringent business visa requirements and long delays in getting employment visas are among the other hurdles in the way of Chinese business in India," Li added.

According to him, the biggest challenge Chinese companies face here is in understanding the minds of the stake-holders and draw their interests.

"Chinese investors are aware that, besides the government, there are several other stake-holders in India -- buyers and sellers, industrial organisations, media, financial groups, investors, employees and communities," Li added.

"Chinese companies usually tend to pay attention only to buyers and ignore other stake-holders, who decide their long-term growth in India," said Li, a Hindi language scholar and a former executive here with Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

The chamber has, among its members, companies like Huawei, ZTE, China Shipping, Dongfang Electric and China International Airlines, besides many other firms keen to invest in India but are yet to set up offices here.

Chinese investments in India have been growing in infrastructure, raw materials and electronics. Now, over the past three years, these companies have also started to enter India's service industries like healthcare, finance and IT.