Organized by MUSIAD and in cooperation with DEIK and TPCI, the trade delegation of 20 Turkish business people attended the international food fair held in India and discussed cooperation opportunities in the country on investment, export and import.
Tevfik Donmez, Chairman of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) Turkey-India Business Council, said that for Turkey, there are huge opportunities, incentives and cooperation opportunities in the sectors of contracting, food, beverage, home appliances, kitchen equipment, luxury furniture and service, especially in defense industry projects in India.
Donmez, who is also the Chairman of MUSIAD Mergers and Acquisitions Committee, told AA correspondent that they organized a 5-day business trip program to India under the organization of MUSIAD, in cooperation with DEIK and the Trade Promotion Council of India-TPCI.
Donmez stated that there were 20 Turkish businesspeople in the visit, which was organized to increase the foreign trade volume between the two countries and to sign new commercial cooperation, and that Turkey was the largest participation in the international food fair Indus Food held in India.
Donmez said that the companies in the delegation held bilateral meetings and that they researched products that they can buy from India and export to this country.
Within the scope of the visit, Donmez informed that MUSIAD and DEIK and the Trade Development Council of India signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in order to increase cooperation and develop commercial activities, and talked about the advantages of the MoU protocol.
He noted that within the scope of the visit, a forum was held in which India’s Minister of Small and Medium-Sized Entrepreneurs Pratap Chandra Sarangi was a speaker, and added saying, “Consultations were held at the fair, in the forum and in our activities after the forum to improve relations and increase the trade volume.”
Donmez stated that they met with NBD Emirates Bank officials, one of the biggest participation banks in the Gulf, and that a cooperation meeting was held in the field of banking and finance, and said, “We held very important meetings and negotiations in our intensive business trip for 5 days in total. We think that our productive business trip was very successful for our exports. We evaluated both the commercial potential of India and its interest in Turkey.”
“There are opportunities for Turkish companies in defense industry projects”
DEIK Turkey-India Business Council President Donmez stated that India has allocated $100 billion to the defense industry due to its policy of moving away from China, and said that this offers an important opportunity for Turkish companies.
Donmez said, “There are important opportunities in projects related to the defense industry as well as shipbuilding, where Turkish companies are strong. Our companies should definitely take action on these issues. Last year, a single tender received by only one Turkish shipyard company was approximately $2.3 billion. This is a very important figure.”
Donmez stated that the market share of many food and food industry products in addition to the branding Turkish apples and cherries has increased every year, and gave the following information:
“As of today, in India, which has a middle-income population of 400 million living in cities, this figure is expected to be around 750 million by 2040. In this sense, there are great opportunities, incentives and cooperation opportunities for our entrepreneur Turkish companies, especially in service sectors such as food, beverage, home appliances, kitchenware, glass products, luxury furniture and special cargo and moto courier.”
“Turkish companies won a $4 billion tender despite the epidemic”
Tevfik Donmez stated that in India, prestigious contracting, technical consultancy, signaling, high-speed train and infrastructure projects such as bridges, viaducts, tunnels and subways are emphasized and Turkish companies are preferred and encouraged in these projects, and he said that Turkish companies have won billions of dollars in tender with the advantage of Make in India program.
He stated that many companies that did not leave India despite the epidemic period managed to get a $4 billion tender only in 2020, “It was a truly proud development that a Turkish company operating in the field of electronics in India signed the design, software and electromechanical systems of the Atal Tunnel, the longest road tunnel in the world.”
“This year export target is $1.5 billion”
DEIK Turkey-India Business Council Chairman Donmez said that the cultural, social and economic relations between the countries will develop rapidly thanks to wedding tourism, which they expect an income of $1 billion by 2023, and 1 million Indian tourists.
Referring to the export figures to India, Donmez stated that they will easily exceed the $1.2 billion they caught before the epidemic this year, “We can easily understand this from the first-quarter figures. Our export target is $1.5 billion this year, and $2 billion in 2022.”
Noting that the foreign trade deficit has been closed by 10% every year, Donmez said, “Thanks to the ‘Destination Country India’ and ‘Asia Anew’ initiatives, Turkey continues to increase the importance it attaches to India in a micro sense and to the Asia Pacific in a macro sense.”
Source: AA / Translated by Irem Yildiz