The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), in partnership with the Indian Business and Professional Council (IBPC), hosted an annual Qatar-India Networking Event. The event, jointly organized by the QFC and IBPC, was aimed to spread awareness about business reforms introduced by Qatar to make the investment climate in the country more open and investor-friendly.
The opening ceremony saw the attendance of P. Kumaran, Ambassador for India to Qatar as well as Yousuf Mohamed Al Jaida, Chief Executive Officer, QFC Authority, and K.M Varghese, President, IBPC.
Qatar and India share an excellent bilateral trade and investment relationship which is growing steadily under an excellent framework provided by the leadership of the two countries.
In 2017, India’s exports to Qatar saw an impressive increase of 87 percent to reach $1.5bn. India also remains the third largest export destination for Qatari products, while Qatar is the largest supplier of LNG to India, accounting for over 65 percent of India’s global import and 15 percent of Qatar’s LNG exports. Total trade between India and Qatar was over $10.5bn in 2017-18.
With 24 fully owned Indian companies operating in Qatar, and an estimated 6,000 Qatar-India joint ventures operating in the infrastructure, ICT, energy sector, and other fields, the contribution of Indian businesses to the local economy is undeniable. QFC is also home to 31 Indian businesses including Tech Mahindra, and more recently FinTech firm Goals101, as well as many others.
In his address, the Indian Ambassador thanked QFC for partnering with IBPC in the initiatives to promote business and investment relations and said that, “India with a nominal GDP of over $2 trillion (over $7 trillion on PPP basis) and growth rate of over 7.5 percent has emerged as the fastest growing large economy in the world. The Indian growth story has a lot to offer to Qatar in terms of investment opportunities, a well-trained and qualified workforce, a promising market and business partnerships, to mention a few. The Embassy will continue to extend support to QFC in its efforts to promote business and commercial linkages.”
Yousuf Mohamed Al Jaida, Chief Executive Officer, QFC Authority said: “We are proud to host the Qatar-India Networking Event in partnership with IBPC – the importance of the Indian market for the QFC and Qatar at large cannot be underestimated. Qatar and India have always enjoyed well-established bilateral ties, and the QFC will continue to support the thriving Indian business community in Qatar, which plays an active role in the continued development of these important relations.”
“IBPC sees QFC as its natural partner in Qatar to fulfill their vision of bringing as many Indian companies and investors to Qatar using the unique QFC platform” said KM Varghese President of IBPC, whole welcoming the guests to the event. “In the coming year we aim to have increased cooperation with QFC leading to more joint events like roadshows in major Indian cities to attract Indian business houses to Qatar” he added.
The Peninsula
13/12/2018