THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 15 December 2007 — The Saudi Engineering Group International (SEGI) has launched its operations in Kerala in a big way with the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the state-run Kerala Electrical and Allied Engineering Company (KEL) to manufacture transformers for international markets.

The MOU is for floating a joint venture between the two companies with equal equity participation. In the first phase, the company will make and distribute transformers with an investment of Rs.300 million.

The SEGI signed the MOU at the Mascot hotel here last week. The new company subsequently started functioning at the sprawling Tejaswini block at Technopark, the largest IT Park in India.

Dr. Abdullah Ali Al-Saihati, chairman of the Kingdom’s Saihati Group of Companies, opened the company’s operations by lighting a traditional lamp in the presence of an august audience including ministers and senior bureaucrats.

“The overriding goal in setting up a new engineering-oriented IT company is to impart training to engineering graduates to groom them as professionals in their respective fields of technical expertise,” Dr. Saihati said while emphasizing the need for promoting Saudi-India business and cultural ties.

Saihati, who is also the chief patron of Soorya which promotes traditional Kerala arts across the world, arrived in the southern Indian state as a state guest, leading a group of Saudi artists and businessmen participating in the Grand Kerala Shopping Festival.

“Events like this would play a big role in strengthening cultural relations and mutual understanding between the people of the two countries,” he said. Saihati had visited Kerala in 2005 to inaugurate Soorya Festival and explore investment opportunities.

The prominent guests at the function included Minister for Education M.A. Baby, Minister for Industries Elamaram Kareem, T. Balakrishnan, principal secretary (industries) and N. Radhakrishnan, CEO, Technopark.

Saihati said the MOU with KEL was the first step toward strengthening commercial ties between the Kingdom and the state of Kerala.

Performance by Saudi artists followed the inaugural function. The 15-member team from the Danat Al Saihat troupe also performed in Kozhikode and Kochi prior to their show in the state capital as part of the Grand Kerala Shopping Festival.

The audience was enthralled by the rich traditional art forms of Ardha, Elewa, Mowan and the Yangwani followed by the traditional Kerala dance forms of Mohiniyattam and Thiruvathirakali performed by local artists, under the guidance of Soorya Krishnamurthy.

Orion Sargam’s Deal With Kairali

Alkhobar-based Orion Sargam, meanwhile, signed a memorandum of understanding to represent the flagship Malayalam Communications and its Malayalam television channels Kairali, in Saudi Arabia. The MOU was signed at a function held at Leela Hotel Kovalam by Rafeek Younus, chairman of Orion Sargam and John Brittas, the managing director of Malayalam Communications Limited in the presence of Al-Saihati, the patron of Orion Sargam.

The Orion Sargam delegates comprised ten renowned Saudi-based Kerala businessmen, including V.N. Jayaprakash, Sudesh Kumar, Radhakrishnan, Harikrishnan, T.V. Madhavan, Lalu Kurien, B.P. Sashi and G. Venugopal, while top executives represented Kairali TV.

Orion Sargam, a business organization comprising group of non-resident Indians (NRIs) from Kerala, presents low-income expatriates with investment opportunities by way of equity participation. The group offers them shares of smaller amounts with the aim of supporting them and improving their economic and social condition, Rafeek Younus told Arab News.

“Sargam’s move goes in line with the new Kerala government’s plan to mobilize NRK funds for development projects in the state. The group will initiate fund mobilization from expatriates and the fund will be utilized in constructive projects and to promote Indo-Saudi cultural ties,” he added. The group plans to invest in tourism, infrastructure, real estate and agricultural projects.

“We have been interacting with ministers and top officials in Kerala for bringing investments in key areas. Besides leisure tourists, we hope to promote the state as a cost-effective and attractive destination for medical tourism as well,” Younus, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, said.

The group has also launched a tourism project in the booming port city of Kochi where Dubai Port World is developing India’s first transshipment terminal and Dubai Internet City is building its SmartCity, the second information technology hub after Malta.

“Saudi investors are looking at India as an ideal investment destination and Kerala should tap the opportunity. I think the state government is aware of that,” he added.