India To Remain An Important FDI Source For Malaysia - MIDA

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 (Bernama) -- India continues to be one of Malaysia’s important source of foreign direct investment, particularly in the manufacturing sector, and is expected to remain among the top 20 investors in the country. As at September 2018, the Malaysian Investment Authority (MIDA) said a total of 135 manufacturing projects, valued at RM5.5 billion, with participation from India were implemented and in the process, 15,000 jobs were created. “The majority of these investments were in the textile and textile products, chemical and chemical products, paper and printing, non-metallic mineral products, electronics and electrical products and basic metal products,” it said in a statement Thursday. MIDA said notable Indian companies that made Malaysia their manufacturing base included the Reliance Group (textiles and textile products), RP Chemical (chemicals and chemical products), Ranbaxy (pharmaceuticals) and Tamco Switchgear (electrical and electronics products). “Some Indian firms have also ventured into the country’s services sector including ICICI Bank Ltd in (finance); Wipro, Infosys and Tata Consultancy (IT services); Sky Blue Media (media advertising); and Manipal International (education and healthcare sector),” it said. MIDA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Azman Mahmud said the investment authority had intensified its investment promotion efforts including identifying specific projects seeking foreign investors, as well as, leveraging on strategic partnerships with business associations. “Despite the favourable account of Indian investments in Malaysia, MIDA believes there is much more room for Indian investors to increase their footprint in the Malaysian economy,” he said. Azman said among the efforts taken to achieve this, MIDA renewed its partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen and promote Malaysia-India business opportunities. “This will strengthen MIDA’s engagements in providing rewarding exchanges to our business communities, especially with CII’s 9,000 members which include small and medium enterprises and, multi-national companies in various sectors,” he said. The MoU was signed today by MIDA deputy CEO Arham Abdul Rahman and CII International Council chairman Dr. Noushad Forbes in conjunction with the 8th Malaysia-India CEO Forum. MIDA had signed a MoU with CII back in 2000 and since then, both parties had undertaken many collaborations and programmes. Among the programmes were the CII Partnership Summit in 2014 and India-Malaysia Business Forum in 2017, as well as, various networking and business matching sessions with Indian companies, organised by both organisations. “I am confident this collaboration will further drive quality investments into Malaysia in the years to come. “By working closely to achieve the deliverables contained in the MoU, MIDA and CII will indirectly contribute to the strengthening of bilateral relationship between both countries that has been growing over the past 62 years,” Azman added. -- BERNAMA