THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 17 March 2007 — Some 50 non-resident Keralite businessmen will attend a meeting convened by Industry Minister Elamaram Kareem at Hotel Le Meridien in Kochi today. The meeting aims at devising strategies to attract investment for the newly-launched company, Infrastructure Kerala Limited (Inkel).
Those invited include Muscat-based Galfar Group Chairman P. Mohammed Ali, Emke Group Chairman M.A. Youseffali and C.K. Menon, CEO of Doha-based Behzad Group of Companies.
The investments will be utilized for building infrastructure for high-tech industries and for establishing physical connectivity.
Inkel has already identified four places in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode for creating infrastructure for sunrise industries like information technology, biotechnology, electronics and nanotechnology.
A delegation of the Construction and Industrial Development Board (CIDB) of Malaysia has already expressed interest in developing infrastructure on a 250-acre plot the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) owns at Kinaloor in Kozhikode.
The Inkel will have a paid-up capital of one billion rupees, with the government agencies holding 26 percent stake while offering the rest to institutions and the public, mainly NRIs. An official of the industries department said road shows were planned to promote the company in the Gulf, beginning from UAE on April 12.
Kareem will lead the team visiting the GCC countries where Kerala guest workers and businessmen have huge presence. This will end on April 21 followed by similar exercises in Europe and the US, dates of which will be announced later.
The company hopes to mobilize 15 billion rupees by way of equity as well as various other instruments.
The official said the meeting would finalize several measures for building confidence among NRI investors who are skeptical about the government’s ability to run businesses and ensure transparency.
The government assures them that, unlike some 20 other companies in which the NRIs burned their fingers, it would put professionals in key positions and there would be absolutely no political interference though the government would hold 26 percent stake on the lines of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL).
Though four rich NRIs together hold 36 percent stake in the CIAL, there are some 10,000 NRIs from 30 countries in the company that operates India’s first corporate airport, which is the fourth largest in India in terms of passenger traffic.
It paid dividend to the investors after eight years and continued to pay 10 percent dividend for the past three consecutive fiscal years. The government has also invited prominent NRIs, including Menon, Youseffali and Mohammed Ali, to be on the board of directors of the company. Youseffali and Mohammed Ali are already on the board of the CIAL.
According to the minister, some affluent NRIs have come forward to buy the entire shares but the government wanted to give ordinary workers in the Gulf a chance to invest. “We want to provide ordinary workers an opportunity to invest their hard-earned money safely and profitably. It should be an income-generating source for them when they return to the country for permanent settlement,” he said recently. “Inkel is about leveraging diaspora power,” Kareem added.
