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Sinha invites HK investment in core areas

Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday invited Hong Kong to step up investments in India's infrastructure sector and offered cooperation in the field of information technology.

Sinha, who arrived in Hong Kong late on Monday night from Singapore, called on Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's chief executive Tung Chee-hwa and had detailed discussions with leading industrialists, including those of China Light Power and Hutchison Whampoa.

Highlighting the recent reform measures, Sinha sought Hong Kong's "effective interest" in enhancing links with India to ensure investment inflows in critical and core sectors.

In order to boost trade between the two countries, Sinha said: "Hong Kong, a traditional trading centre of South China Sea and Asia Pacific region, could play a very important role in promoting India's commercial ties with mainland China and other countries."

He also said that Indian companies would be interested in utilising Hong Kong as the conduit for accessing China, especially after the country's accession to WTO.

"The liberalisation of India's foreign trade policies and the consequential avenues, would need to be adequately appreciated by the multi-national companies of Hong Kong," Sinha said.

He briefed Chee-hwa on Indian economy and India's plans to move ahead with reforms, and invited him to visit India.

Chee-hwa said the two countries should collaborate in IT sector in Hong Kong since India had an edge in this sector.

Dwelling on cooperation in IT sector, Sinha said India could provide back-office operations to minimise the cost and increase profitability.

"This option was a viable proposition considering the economic slowdown of the US. India would be an ideal place for MNCs based here to outsource their data processing and service back-up," he said.

The finance minister also met Hong Kong's finance secretary Antony Leung and exchanged views on bilateral co-operation.

Earlier in the day, senior executives from the China Light Power Holdings led by the group managing director Andrew Brandler called on Sinha and exchanged views on India's power sector.

The Hong Kong-based CLP group, which has invested in India's power sector, expressed interest in the country's power generation and distribution sectors.

While stressing that the Centre and state governments were taking a number of steps to reform the power sector, Sinha assured CLP executives of the government's resolve to push ahead with power sector reforms.

Sinha also met Hong Kong's richest man and business tycoon Li Ka-shing, chairman of the Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings.

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