For the third time, Taitronics India 2009, an interna­tional trade exhibition, was held from Sep 11-13, Sep 2009 at Chennai Trade Center. The event was jointly organized by the Taipei World Trade Center Company (TWTC), an affiliate of Taiwan External Trade Development Council Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manu­facturers' Association, in partnership with Government of Tamil Nadu and Confederation of Indian Industry.

Briefing the press about the event, Wayne Wu, Deputy Chairman, TWTC said, “The outstanding performance of the Indian economy over the last few months has made Taiwanese manufacturers eager to seek business opportunity in this giant market through the Taitronics India show.”

According to a report by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, India-Taiwan trade reached $5.3 billion in 2008, a nine percent increase from the previous year.

Wenchyi Ong, a representative from Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in New Delhi said, “Taiwan has been working very hard over the past years with regard to Indian market. We have threeoffices in India that work hand-in-hand to improve economic ties with India by boosting trade and strengthening the business relationship.”

Taitronics India 2009 team organizing a press conference in Chennai

“The trade last year was at an all-time high at $5.3 billion, which is just one percent of total Taiwan foreign trade. Over the past seven years, the investment from Taiwan to India is about $1 billion, has been less than one percent of total foreign investment,” he said.

Pointing out the $110 million investment made by Foxconn in India, he noted that the total investment by Taiwan in a small country like Malyasia is $90 billion, while the investment in India is just 1.2 percent of investment made in Malaysia. “All these indicate that there is a huge upside potential in India,” he mentioned.

“Worst part of financial crisis is pretty much behind us. Robust growth is expected in the fourth quarter and next year. Taiwan expects the trade figure to triple to $15 billion in the next three years,” he concluded.

Chun-Fang Hsu, Deputy DG-Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs said, “Bilateral relationship between Taiwan and India has improved significantly since 1990. Both the governments have launched efforts to significantly expand the trade and investment in the field of IT, energy, telecommu­nications, and electronics. In 2008, the trade was valued at $5.34 billion, an increase of 9.5 percent over the previous year. Every year, our government invests a significant amount of money to help the companies build their own brand and improve the industry's quality.”

The event will host 180 exhibitors in 240 booths, more than double from last year's 111 booths. Few key participants in the event include, Asus Tek, BenQ and KYE, which owns the Genius brand.

Taiwanese companies make nearly three quarters of world's personal computers and about half of the world's liquid crystal displays. Taiwan's exports to India have grown steadily in recent years, and in 2008, it rose by more than 27 percent to $3.2 billion from $2.5 billion in 2007, based on information from Taiwan's Directorate General of Customs.

N Vasudevan
vasudevann@cybermedia.co.in

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