At the fourth industrial collaboration summit, New Delhi invites Taipei to invigorate the Digital India program with support in developing IoT, 5G, Deep-Tech, and Defence-Strategic electronics. Taiwan declares its readiness to do more business with India, under the New Southbound Policy
@Kunal_Chonkar
New Delhi: Considering Taiwan as one of India’s ‘most important partner’ in growth, New Delhi welcomed Taipei for a closer technological partnership to tap into the immense potential that exists between the two democratic nations. New Delhi called upon Taipei to assist it in stitching together a number of components under the Digital India program, especially in electronic manufacturing.
“We are at the cusp of very exciting times in India-Taiwan partnership. The global wings of trade dynamics to present an opportune window for leapfrogging India Taiwan industrial relations to next level,” Ajay Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in his opening remarks at the fourth Taiwan-India Industrial Collaboration Summit, on October 22. Sawhney added that India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, presents ‘unique investment opportunities to Taiwan.’ He added that there is tremendous scope for electronics to grow between the two nations in emerging technologies such as IoT, 5G, Deep-Tech, and even Defence-Strategic electronic hardware.
“The current atmosphere in India is very conducive to electronic investments and partnerships. The government through various new schemes and policies seeks collaboration, in its vision to position India as a global hub for electronic manufacturing not only for domestic but also for the international market,” Sawhney said. He commended the decision of four Taiwanese cellphone companies to utilize New Delhi’s Production Linked Incentive Scheme, as they take up large-scale manufacturing in India. “This is a great confidence booster for us, and it is a great boost for relations between India and Taiwan,” the bureaucrat said.
In his special remarks to the summit, Taiwanese Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs, Chen Chern-chyi underscored the new diplomatic dimensions developed between Taipei and New Delhi, under the leadership of President Tsai Ing-wen’s New Southbound Policy. He highlighted that with the motivation from President Tsai, Taiwan has successfully launched and operates 108 projects in India, worth more than $800 million.
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“Taiwan is primarily planning for strategic industry investments in the electronic sector in India. There are also bigger investment plans for media technology as well as Research and Development. The Taiwan-India cooperation will achieve great results in the coming years too,” Chern-chyi said.
While seeking to establish and facilitate long term, beneficiary exchange with India, the Deputy Economic Affairs Minister called upon New Delhi to ease the bureaucratic red-tapism between the two democracies. “The (Indian) government in terms of administrative procedures needs to lower barriers for Taiwanese investors, especially for electronic companies. We need more assistance from New Delhi,” Chern-chyi said while adding that with Taipei is looking at New Delhi as a ‘future production center’ with Taiwanese companies requiring ‘friendlier investment environment and facilities’ from its democratic trade partner.
Assuring to ‘have taken very good note’ of the expectations raised by the Taiwanese Deputy Minister, Director-General of India Taipei Association, Gourangalal Das assured to resolve them by working with New Delhi. “We understand the specific requirements of Taiwanese businesses. We are working on our own plan of action to see how best we can facilitate their operations in India,” Das said while recognizing Taiwan’s inclining growth in Information Technology and people-to-people relations in recent years.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese senior diplomat and representative to India Baushuan Ger said that his nation is ready to do ‘more business with New Delhi.’ He cited that in order to ‘boost ties’ with countries South of Taiwan, like India, President Tsai has launched the New Southbound Policy, which when complemented with New Delhi’s Act East Policy ‘can streamline bilateral economic objectives between the two democracies and open up new avenues of cooperation.
“Both governments have demonstrated unwavering willingness to enhance this open and friendly investment and trade environment for our companies. Cooperation among the industries, the private sector is just as important as between the two governments. They (private industries) form the bedrock of strategic partnership between the two nations,” he pointed.
The summit witnessed India and Taiwan inking four Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) to further deepen the ongoing industrial collaboration. The two democracies signed MoUs on electronic products, wireless technology, green-strategic technology, and eco-plastics innovation.
