Sunday, August 21 2005 14:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Shanghai: Orders worth over Rs 150 crore have been secured by visiting Indian exporters, who said today (August 21, 2005) they were exploring opportunities for joint ventures here in the booming Chinese market.

"Our interaction with the Chinese businesses at Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai has been highly successful in terms of business negotiated as well as inquiries generated. They have exceeded our pre-visit expectations," R K Dhawan, leader of a delegation from Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO), an apex body of Indian exporters, said here in China's commercial hub.

Dhawan, also Chairman of FIEO's Northern Region, said the exporters had struck deals worth around Rs 160 crore during the 12-day visit.

"Our exporters are very happy, they have got very good enquiries, they hope to get good business. Some of them have decided to return to China after two months to follow up the talks that they had with the Chinese side," he said.

"We found that the Chinese businesses are keen to cooperate with us, both for imports as well as for exports. But the prices needs to be negotiated because they first quote very high prices and then come down to half or even one-third," he said.

The Indian business delegates were from industries like bearings, hydraulic equipments, jute, human hair, garments, leather and leather products, chemicals, building hardware and electrical items.

Lot to Learn from China

Dhawan said that India has a lot to learn from China in terms of infrastructure, business policies as well as export promotion.

"The way the Chinese are aggressively marketing themselves is highly impressive. We in India are not doing so much," Dhawan, himself a leading exporter, said.

"The infrastructure facilities in China are world-class and we need to emulate them if we have to attain faster economic growth," he said adding that Chinese industries also enjoy tax breaks, favourable policies and low power tariffs.

"We have to go in a big way to ensure that we have warehouses in China where we showcase our products and help penetrate the Chinese market," he said.

FIEO is planning to set up India Houses in almost all key business centres around the world, including China, he said.

He said the FIEO will take the initiative to open such showrooms in at least some key cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou.

During the visit, the Chinese businesses complained that it was very difficult for them to obtain Indian visas.

"On the other hand, the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi and the Chinese Consulate in Mumbai are giving visas to Indians without much fuss. This needs to be looked into."

He also called for more direct air and shipping connections between the two neighbouring countries since more Indian firms are thinking of making China as a midway base between Japan and other Southeast Asian countries.