Chennai chapter of FIC goes on stream
CHENNAI: Foreign Investors Council (FIC) has set up its South India chapter and has come up in Chennai.
It is ostensibly established to assist small foreign investors who are keen on participating in the growth story of South India, especially the Tamil Nadu region.The Chennai chapter was inaugurated by the Ambassador of Ecuador to India His Excellency Hector Buda Jecome at Hotel Residency Towers here.The FIC itself came into being sometime ago.
The Director of Asian Arab Chamber of Commerce (South India Chapter),Dr. R.L. Kannan, the President of the Indian Economic Trade Organization, Dr. Asif Iqbal, and the Consul-Generals of Malaysia and Thailand were present at the inaugural ceremony of FIC in Chennai recently.
“There is a huge interest in South India, especially Tamil Nadu, has been drawing huge interest as an investment hub among the investing community around the world. An emerging region, south India offers immense scope for multilateral business opportunities with its broad-based manufacturing base. At the moment, however, investors from abroad have a redressal mechanism. Foreign Investors Council (FIC) is now ideally positioned to support the efforts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in attracting overseas investment. IFC will play the facilitator role for foreign investors who wish to have trading relationships with the Tamil Nadu, and also address the problems, if any, they may be facing with various projects.
“The Chennai FIC office will work directly with various embassies in Delhi and bring opportunities to places such as Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad,” said Dr. D. Sarvanan, the newly-appointed Chairman of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC)in South India. “There is no mechanism in India for serving individual small and mid-size foreign investors in India, and FIC will hand-hold the small investors from Japan, Denmark, Sweden et al to identify smaller projects and create capital base for local Indian people that may help generate employment for smaller groups. Many pension funds from individuals are indeed looking at opportunities, and there is no agency that can help them. FIC is now keen to handhold such foreign investors.
“Latin American region and Middle East will be at the top of our priorities as per the Prime Minister’s vision. Through the council, we will continue to intensify and deepen our engagement with foreign investors on a sustained and regular basis. Our development partnerships will be guided by investor safety priorities. We will build as much local capacity and create as many local opportunities as possible. We will bring the Tamil Nadu market closer and make it easier and more attractive to trade with foreign investors. We will support our industries to collaborate with foreign investors,” said the Director of the Asian Arab Chamber of Commerce in South India, Dr. R.L. Kannan.
“My goal is to build a stronger multilateral relation and work to reach new heights in the relationship between Tamil Nadu companies and the foreign investors. I will be focusing on the districts such as Coimbatore and Salem for manufacturing hubs. We will explore the opportunities in a structured fashion,” said Dr. Asif Iqbal, President of the Indian Economic Trade Organization.
Monthly round-table meetings will be conducted with focus on different foreign investment opportunities in Tamil Nadu with the support of embassies in New Delhi for better cooperation.
CONTACT INFORMATION:FOREIGN INVESTORS COUNCIL,,MOHIT SRIVASTAVA 93100 73301,asianarabchamber@gmail.com
