Egypt is one of the most important investment destinations for India in the region, with a total $3.15bn investment. Indian companies aim to inject more $700m investment in Egypt over the next few years, according to Indian Ambassador to Egypt Ajit Gupte.
Gupte said that Egypt, under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, became an attractive market for Indian companies. His remarks came during the 5th Egypt-India Business Council meeting on Tuesday, the first of its kind since 2016.
The ambassador said that he encourages the Indian companies to invest in Egypt and make use of the several FTAs Egypt has with regional trading blocs and companies.
He mentioned that sectors like pharmaceuticals, chemicals, medical devices, renewable energy projects, fisheries, fertilizers, construction equipment etc. are prospective areas where Indian companies could look at and expand their global footprint.
“I also urge Egyptian companies to look at investing in India especially in the field of IT, fintech, engineering equipment, food processing, auto parts, etc. I would take this opportunity to encourage our Business Council to tap the large Indian market and also make use of the Government of India’s Production Linked Incentive Scheme and others,” he added.
The ambassador said that at the worst of the Pandemic year which was in 2020/21, India-Egypt’s overall bilateral trade reduced less than 10% compared to the pre-pandemic year in 2019/20.
“It is now heartening to see that business activities have resumed in a significant manner in Egypt and with the recent changes in relaxing of all Covid-19 restrictions, I am confident that we can soon see an expansion in the long pent up economic and business collaboration between our two countries, not to mention bilateral tourism, as well as between people of our two great nations,” Gupte said.
“Egypt-India trade exchange reached a record high of $7.26bn, up 75% compared to FY2020/21,” according to the Indian ambassador.
He added that Egypt’s exports to India increased by 86% and Indian exports to Egypt increased by 65% year-on-year.
“During April and May, there was a 14% increase in trade exchange with respect to the record figures we achieved in FY 2021/22. We need to capitalize on these numbers going forward because I believe the potential is much higher than this,” he stressed.
“India and Egypt share many commonalities. We both have a large and young population with a significant share of our workforce depending on agriculture and allied sectors. Our countries face similar challenges like issues of food security as a result of climate change, demand for cleaner and greener power, pressure on agricultural land, improving rural infrastructure, water scarcity, etc. to name a few. Therefore, it is natural that we collaborate in these areas like renewable energy, infrastructure, healthcare, IT, agriculture and allied technologies, digitization of government services, etc. where both our countries are focusing on in a big way,” he concluded.
