Indian investment is most welcome and will be with minimum formalities in Bhutan, says official

Indian investment is most welcome and will be with minimum formalities in Bhutan, said Dasho Sonam Tshering, Secretary, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Bhutan.

Gurgaon, Jan.17 : Indian investment is most welcome and will be with minimum formalities in Bhutan, said Dasho Sonam Tshering, Secretary, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Bhutan.

He was addressing a session on investment opportunities in Bhutan at the Partnership Summit 2008.

While the FDI Policy of Bhutan allows foreign equity investment between 20-70 percent, the current review of the FDI Policy was deliberating on the possibility of allowing 100 percent foreign equity investment in the case of India, informed Tshering.

Tshering mentioned that while hydro-power and tourism will continue to top the list of sectors inviting foreign investment in Bhutan, education, IT, water, roads, transport, housing, private security services, mineral processing, forest and wood stock, agro processing have also been identified as potentially attractive sectors for FDI.

The 10th Plan of Bhutan was laying special emphasis on the development of infrastructure through the PPP mode, informed Tshering.

In the hydropower sector, an agreement of cooperation had already been concluded with the Government of India in 2006. 6-10 power projects would come up as part of this agreement, the Secretary remarked, which would go a long way in fostering Indo-Bhutan economic cooperation.

A CII Task Force had been constituted to identify potential areas of business cooperation between India and Bhutan asserted Subodh Bhargava, Past President CII and Chairman VSNL, in his welcome observations.

Bhargava pointed out that in its preliminary survey, the task force had identified education, healthcare, pharma, quality and training as some other potentially attractive areas for investment in addition to the existing potential in hydro power and tourism. The task force was scheduled to visit Bhutan in March and is slated to present its final report in May, where it would quantify the time plan and the sequence of requirements in the sectors, informed Bhargava.

Indian business was keen to diversify its footprints and look into new avenues of cooperation with Bhutan which presents interesting possibilities in the context of its changing social and political scenario, remarked Bhargava.

ANI