NEW DELHI: Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that there were several promising opportunities available for the Kuwaiti investors in India. Sitharaman indicated that India was focusing on becoming a $5 trillion economy from the current $3 trillion, securing the third largest economy globally after the US and China by the year 2022. In a statement to the press yesterday, Kuwait's Ambassador to India Jassem Al-Najem said that Sitharaman made the statement when he met the minister in New Delhi. "Kuwaiti investors both from private and public sectors should exploit the rapid Indian economic growth especially when it is looking to establish more power plants and other infrastructure including modern road networks, airports and railways and benefit from the huge Indian market of more than 13 billion people," Ambassador Najem said.
The Indian minister hailed the bilateral relations between the two friendly countries and the importance of exchanging high-level visits between officials in both the countries. She also appreciated the success of Kuwaiti projects in the field of global oil refineries, especially the Vietnam refinery in cooperation with the Japanese government at a cost of around $9 billion and Duqm refinery in Oman at a similar cost.
Cooperation between India and Kuwait is highly required in this area to fulfill the growing needs of Indian market for petrochemical products. Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti ambassador underlined the interest of Indian minister in Kuwait Investment Authority's business in India, which stands at $5 billion currently and is looking to increase the same. This especially relevant as the Indian government is encouraging foreign investors by modernizing laws, speeding up procedures and increasing electronic trading. The minister, who held several portfolios in successive governments such as minister of commerce and industry and minister of defense, is preparing to table the largest budget in Indian Parliament this week. - KUNA