A delegation of eight leading Indian companies visited HCM City this week to seek cooperation in a number of fields, including energy, industrial machinery, steel, finance, real estate and tourism.

Speaking at the meeting on April 14, the president of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Calcutta, V Sharan, said the visit would help promote trade and investment cooperation between the two countries.

The delegation members include the RPG Group, SMIFS Capital Markets Limited and Shree Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan Pvt. Ltd.

Indian companies that have located in Vietnam include the Te Godrej steel furniture factory, the pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy, and the pepper processing plant Vallabhdas Kanji Limited, all of which are located in southern Binh Duong province.

Another Indian furniture manufacturer, Sudima International, has also established a base in Vietnam, along with Nagarjuna International and the KCP sugar plants in southern Long An and Phu Yen provinces.

Vo Tan Thanh, general director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s HCM City branch, said two-way trade turnover reached 2.5 billion USD in 2008, a sharp increase from 75 million USD in 1995.

Last year, despite the global economic downturn, two-way trade turnover between the two countries resulted in 2.05 billion USD. Vietnam’s exports to India reached 420 million USD million and imports 1.6 billion USD.

Thanh said last year India had invested more than 201 million USD in 38 projects, ranking 29 out of 79 foreign investors in Vietnam .

“Vietnam is an emerging country, but it has had a stable growth rate of 7-8 percent and has offered open policies to investors, including India . India is expected to rank in the top 10 among investors in Vietnam,” he said./.