He chairman thanked Shakeel Ahmad (consul commercial) of the Indian Consulate for providing this opportunity to Jeddah Chapter to hosting the delegation.
K.K.M. Kutty — co-chairman of CII-Gulf committee and managing director of South West Group of Companies recently led a 13-member delegation that included senior business executives from different parts of India on a visit to Saudi Arabia.
He along with his team presented the economic scenario of India in which he informed that India is the fourth largest economy in terms of Purchasing Power Parity behind US, China and Japan and second fastest growing economy behind China. India has grown at a rapid pace over the past 15 years from $250 billion to over $1.3 trillion currently with a per capita income of $1,192 compared to $3744 for China and $45,989 for the United States.
He also stressed that India had many advantages, while listing growing middle class of over 50 million household, expected to reach 128 million by 2025; strong growth from 7.5 percent in 2004-05 to 8.5 percent in 2010-11 although growth in current year has slowed down to 6.9 percent due to slow industrial growth on account of high interest rates and rising input cost and RBI has a tight control on its monetary policy and Indian banks were not affected by the economic crisis of the West as they were adequately capitalized as some of the advantages.
Kutty cautioned that the recent decision to delay Foreign Direct Investment in retail coupled with dampening economic data revealed for October 2011, weakening rupee and bearish Sensex could result in a slowdown in the short run but the fundamentals of the economy being strong, things could improve in the long run.
He stressed the importance of the Saudi Indian Business Network over the years and has urged both Indian and Saudi businessmen to take full advantage of the favorable investment and economic climate in both countries.
Bilateral trade between both countries is continuously on the rise and new avenues could be explored to further boost it.
He emphasized the role that professional Indian Chartered Accountants could play in informing the Saudi and Indian business community to invest in the respective economies. He assured the gathering that the CII will be more actively involved and will make regular visits to the Kingdom to further the bilateral trade between the two countries.
He thanked the Indian Consulate and the Jeddah Chapter of Indian Chartered Accountants for hosting the event. Later the Jeddah Chapter presented souvenirs and gifts to all members of the delegation.
