Andhra Pradesh in India will be receiving US$3bil (RM12.1bil) worth of investment from a slew of Malaysian companies.  The sectors Malaysia is investing in include: beverages, biodiesel, metallurgy, retail, vector control and will result in the establishment of around 8,000 jobs. The bureaucratic part of this has already been completed with the signing by the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board and the Malaysian companies of seven memoranda of understanding.

According to Datuk Ramesh Kodammal, Asean-India Business Council co-chairman:

“The value of the MoUs signed today is just a fraction of the business potential between ASEAN and India. With a combined population of 1.8 billion people and existence of bilateral trade agreements such as the Asean-India Free Trade Agreement (Afta) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), opportunities in Asean and India abound for our business entities.”

Meanwhile, the Indian government will be creating a committee (led by the NITI Aayog CEO) to investigate a variety of issues, most notably FDI norms connected to the country’s e-commerce industry that is continuing on a growth spurt.  Contributions to the committee will also be made by officials from commerce and industry ministry members as well as those from the department of electronics and IT. It will try to find additional ways the industry can grow as well.

It should also be noted that 100% of FDI has been allowed through the ecommerce retailing marketplace format via the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) since March.