Al-Kuwari presents a memento to Dr Forbes as Indian ambassador Sanjiv Arora looks on. PICTURE: Shemeer Rasheed

By Pratap John
Chief Business Reporter

India is a “promising” market and provides “huge opportunity” for investors, said Qatar Chamber vice-chairman Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Towar al-Kuwari.
Welcoming a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) delegation to Qatar Chamber yesterday, al-Kuwari highlighted the “growing bilateral trade and the historic links” between the two countries.
Addressing the meeting, Dr Naushad Forbes, president-designate, CII & director, Forbes Marshall, said greater opportunities existed in both India and Qatar for investments.  “The closeness of the connection between Qatar and India is striking. In many cases, these connections go back to generations. We can also build on these connections… productively in future.”
Dr Forbes said while the Indian industry was “active” in Qatar, certainly more could be done here.
“The other day, we listened to the Qatar Development Bank CEO, who said, ‘Indian industry is certainly active in Qatar. While the Indian industry is welcome in Qatar, it is punching below its weight in Qatar. There should be a stronger presence of the Indian industry in Qatar.’ This message we are taking back to our own members.”
He said Qatar’s efforts to diversify its economy, away from oil and gas were a “major development”.
“And I understand half the Qatari economy is now accounted for by the non-hydrocarbons sector. In India, we are really keen to participate, not only in the hydrocarbon industry or infrastructure, but also in Qatar’s industrial development broadly.
“Qatar’s hospitality sector is vibrant and promising. And there are many sectors, where we have an obvious match. Qatar’s infrastructure plans in relation to FIFA 2022 are striking. The investments that are called for are very ambitious. Indian firms can play a significant and active role across various sectors,” the CII president-designate said.
Dr Forbes urged the Qatari industry to “consider investing in India” and said, “The potential for infrastructure investments in my country is even larger, simply because of the huge gap between India’s needs and what it has now.
“Every year for the next 20 years, we require billions of dollars of investments in India across many sectors. We look forward to greater involvement of the Qatar Chamber and the Qatari industry in what we are trying to do in India,” he said.
Dr Forbes pointed out that the Indian economy was “growing very rapidly”. The economy is deepening in various sectors. There are opportunities everywhere.
“For example, we produce in India, up to 1.3mn engineers a year. It is a huge number. Clearly, there are opportunities for investment in India’s higher education,” said Dr Forbes, a former lecturer and consulting professor at the Stanford University in the US.
Dr Forbes currently leads a nine member high level business delegation to Doha, which represents infrastructure, energy, heavy engineering, manufacturing, consultancy, and information technology among other sectors.
The programme of the delegation, coordinated by Embassy of India, Doha, with the active support of Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) and Indian Business & Professionals Network (IBPN), included interaction with local companies with a view to develop and expand business in diverse sectors.
CII, founded more than 120 years ago, is a premier apex business association of India, functioning as an industry-led industry-managed organisation. It currently has more than 7,200 members, including MNCs and SMEs, and an indirect membership of over 90,000 enterprises from nearly 260 nationals and regional sectoral industry bodies.
CII has a network of offices within India and abroad, as also institutional partnerships with more than 220 counterpart organisations in some 90 countries.