News: Young Italian entrepreneurs urged to invest in India

(IANS 24/04/2007) New Delhi - A group of young entrepreneurs from Italy were told about India, its potential to become the world's second largest economy by year 2050, and were invited to invest in the country by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here Tuesday. Amit Mitra, secretary general FICCI, while inviting investment from the 30 entrepreneurs of Leaders of the Future group, also told them that India was the largest democracy while its present economic growth rate was 8.6 per cent. The group, which arrived April 22 and will be in the country till May 1, are here as part of a study tour programme which enables them to visit various companies and meet influential personalities across the world and hone their business skills. The group has visited Israel, Palestine, Russia, East Europe and America. At an interaction programme, Mitra said: "From an economic growth of 3.5 per cent back in the 60s, the growth rate of India has become 8.6 per cent in the last three years. Now we are targeting the growth rate to reach the 10 per cent mark. "Then the external debt to the gross domestic product (GDP) has come down from 28.7 per cent to 15.8 per cent." Mitra also highlighted the huge manpower resource that the country has. "India produces 50,000 computer professionals and 360,000 graduates every year. That is a large capital base," he said. He said Italy can tap the potential areas of automobile, information technology, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, metals and mining, tourism, entertainment, food processing, civil aviation and telecommunication. "Italy gave us FIAT (automobile company) but during the years there was no renovation done to suit the changing tastes of people, hence it lost out. The market is now dominated by Hyundai's Santro, a common man's favourite car. But if you want, you can make a big comeback. "We need great Italian competency in cars," Mitra said. Answering queries on how a small Italian company can come to India and benefit, he said that FICCI would be glad to help them by first finding out whether there is a potential market for the product and they could even get into a joint venture. "In terms of the future, this is the time to come to India. We have been in India for the past six years and after the initial hiccups, we are performing decently well now and are happy," said Sanjay Sharma, country head of Swarovski Crystals. The group will be going to Agra and Thiruvananthapuram before leaving homewards May 1.