Eight Indian Firms Look At Hong Kong For Investing

Eight Indian firms, primarily from the financial services, IT, retail and aviation sectors may invest in Hong Kong next year, Invest Hong Kong''s Associate Director-General Simon Galpin said. Invest Hong Kong is a department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and is the government''s arm charged with attracting foreign investment into the island. Presently, nearly 20 prominent Indian firms, including Air India and State Bank of India (SBI), have investments in Hong Kong. Total trade between India and Hong Kong, which stood at USD 7.67-billion in 2006, is expected to go up this year with a number of new players increasingly showing interest to Invest in Hong Kong. Other Indian firms, who have operations in Hong Kong include ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, New India Assurance Company, HCL Technologies, Satyam Computers and Tata Consultancy Services. Two more banks are understood to be opening their branches in Hong Kong in the near term. According to Invest HK, FDI inflows into that country have tripled in the last three years, from $ 13.6-billion in 2003 to nearly $ 43-billion in 2006, while inflows in the first two quarters of this year are estimated to be around 27.1-billion.