Indian Investors Urged to Invest More in Thailand

(27/01/2012)

Indian business people have been urged to increase their investments in Thailand, which will provide a link between India and other countries in ASEAN and the Greater Mekong Subregion. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, during her visit to India on 24-26 January 2012, stimulated confidence in Thailand among Indian investors and called for the promotion of Thai-Indian partnerships. She told Indian business people that Thailand was building road and rail linkages to Thailand’s neighboring countries and beyond, which would open new trade and investment opportunities. It is also planning to construct a sea route linking Chennai Port in India with Dawei deep-sea port in Myanmar and Laem Chabang deep-sea port in Thailand. Since the signing of the Thailand-India Free Trade Agreement in 2003, bilateral trade rose significantly from one billion US dollars to more than seven billion dollars now. Prime Minister Yingluck said that both countries would accelerate the completion of the Thailand-India FTA by the middle of this year, with the target to increase the two-way trade to 14 billion dollars by 2014. She pointed out that Thailand has a strong economic foundation and the country’s economic growth this year is expected to be 5 percent. The country has also enjoyed fiscal stability and its policies are favorable to investors and business people. The corporate tax now stands at 23 percent, and the rate will drop to 20 percent next year. Thailand also has a labor force of good quality to accommodate foreign business operations. Regarding flood prevention, she explained that Thailand was investing more than 11 billion dollars in water resource management. This would ensure that businesses would be free from the flooding in the future. In this connection, effective water management systems would be set up and floodways would be built, while forecast and warning systems would be improved. The Prime Minister believed that efforts to enhance Thai-Indian strategic partnership would help expand business growth between the two countries, and they would explore cooperation in various fields, such as information technology, tourism industry, and medical services. She expressed support for the organizing of a CEO Forum to promote bilateral investment. In her meeting with Thai business people in India, Prime Minister Yingluck said that the Government would form a working group to lower trade barriers between the two countries; Thai investments in India now stand at 81.77 billion dollars. Thai investors asked the Government to negotiate with India on the subject of land allocation and the tackling of double taxation. Thailand would like to increase flights between both countries, as well.