Vietnam seafood companies urged to invest in India

Nguyen Thanh Binh, vice chairman of An Giang Province, exchanges name cards with an Indian business executive (L) during the break - PHOTO: HUNG LE

HCMC – Smita Pant, Indian Consul General in HCMC, has called for seafood enterprises in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang to sound out business opportunities in India.

Speaking at a meeting between local and Indian business executives in HCMC last week, she said the Indian government offers incentives to foreign investors committed to aquaculture and seafood sectors, especially in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.

As part of the “Make in India” campaign, foreign companies, including those from Vietnam, are encouraged to do business in the world’s second most populous market.

She asked the An Giang government to send a delegation of seafood firms to the three states to do market research and explore investment opportunities.

Vietnamese enterprises, especially those from An Giang, have great skills in farming and processing catfish, and export it to many foreign markets, she said. Some have already shipped fish to India.

Ramesh Anand, managing director of India-based Canopus Inter-Trade Pte Ltd, said his company has imported many basa fish products for customers in India and some African nations. Vietnamese basa fish products have found their way to four- and five-star hotels in India.

Therefore, he said, the Indian market offers opportunities for the province’s seafood companies to export their products.

Nguyen Thanh Binh, vice chairman of An Giang Province, said on the sidelines of the event that in addition to traditional markets like China, the U.S., and the European Union, the province is exploring whether it can ship basa fish to other markets with high demand, including India.

Binh said his province has plans to send a delegation to India to survey the market.

Trade between the province and India reached nearly US$8 million last year, of which the province’s exports accounted for around US$2.2 million, up 22.3% against 2015, he said.

There is room for much trade, he noted.