Interactive Session On Business Opportunities In West And Central Africa Held In Pune

PUNE: The Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( FICCI ) in association with industrial development company – ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (IIP)  today organized an ‘Interactive session on business opportunities in West and Central Africa’ at Pride Hotel in Pune. Reetabrata Bhattacharya, General Manager Arise IIP, Nagesh Rane, Marketing Head Arise IIP,  Manis Thanawalla, Director Greenback Advisory Services Pvt led and Deepak Mukhi, Director FICCI Maharashtra State Council were present at the occasion. 

Nagesh Rane said that our main motto is to attract exporters to come and set up their businesses in Africa. Post-covid the evolving geo-political situation presents Africa with a lot of economic opportunities. The SEZ perks present a lot of tax benefits, duties, and subsidies apart from lesser transit times to Western countries and freight costs. Availability of abundant raw materials in some core sectors like agro-processing coupled with skill training centers specially designed for product and sector presents a huge advantage. It has an impact on profit margin. Arise is present in countries with stable political environments. We have more than 10 parks all led by Indians as cluster heads adding to the convenience. Logistics including roads, ports, and airports along with safety are aiding overall growth.

Manis Thanawalla, Director of Greenback Advisory Services Pvt gave a presentation on financing in Africa. He talks about financing for machinery, term loans, ECA funding, working capital, warehouse financing, etc, and the challenges around these.

In his welcome address Deepak Mukhi, Director of FICCI Maharashtra State Council said that the event aimed to make aware of the opportunities in SEZs and economic zones, financing options across 10 countries. India has emerged as one of the foremost inbound investment centers for Africa partly fuelled by the push from the Indian Government to diversify the baskets after seeing the Western economies face challenges. Africa is attracting investments in certain core sectors not only because of export potential but also domestic consumption. These core sectors include agro-processing, automobiles, fertilizers and chemicals, electronics, packaging, construction material, timber, packaging, recycling industry, pharma, plastics, computer assembly, and in recent times Electric Vehicles. FICCI has been leading a lot of these initiatives focused on trade activities. This is our effort to deepen the trade partnership between India and Africa and supplement the efforts of the government by bringing these opportunities to the fore.