S. African business urged to invest in India

So far South African businessmen have been largely looking at China as a business destination in Asia.

India is trying to get South African businessmen to invest in the infrastructure and energy sectors, contending they should look at the country in a new light in the wake of a growing political relationship.

So far South African businessmen, like businessmen in many other countries, have been largely looking at China as a business destination in Asia. But now Indian diplomats are telling South Africans that they should look at areas like infrastructure and energy sectors in India for investment.

"In terms of South African exports, there are two bottlenecks in the Indian economy where a lot of investment will take place - infrastructure and energy. I do believe that South African firms are well placed to compete in these sectors in India," said Indian High Commissioner Santosh Kumar.

He was addressing local business leaders and diplomats at a meeting organised by the Afro-Asian Society, an NGO that promotes better understanding between the two continents at a business level.

Pieter Botha, vice-chairman of the Afro-Asian Society, told IANS the meeting had been arranged to help change the mindset of the South African business in respect of India.

"We see the dawning of a new relationship. In the last two years South Africa and India have really found each other economically. Most of our business has been with China and Asia, but we have seen a shift in the last two years from China to India.

"People are more comfortable with India because of the common English language, the fact that our administrations work similarly and the fact that you have protection for intellectual property rights."

Kumar said the Indian IT and service sectors could play an important role in making South African business more efficient.

He said: "There are no capital controls - you can invest and you can take that money back. We have also liberalised controls, which we had earlier on Indian capital going abroad and today you will find as a result of that that there are a number of companies that have already invested in South Africa, especially in the automobile, steel, IT and
pharmaceutical sectors.

"The excellent political relations that we have should inform this activity of developing economic synergy. I'm quite optimistic about the economic relationship between India and South Africa," Kumar concluded.

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