Consulate General of India

Shanghai

PRESS RELEASE

Visit of Ambassador Vijay K Gokhale to Shanghai

(February 21-23, 2016)

Ambassador Vijay K. Gokhale paid an official visit to Shanghai from 21 - 23 February and interacted with CEO's of some of the leading Chinese companies from Eastern China region, who have evinced strong interest in investing in India or scaling up their existing business presence in India.

2.  During these site visits, Ambassador had an excellent interaction with CEO's of four leading Chinese companies, which included Mr. Nan Cunhui, Chairman of Chint Group ( has 1.6 billion $ investment plans for India into power and renewable energies sectors), Mr. Shen Jianfang, Chairman of Highly Group (has manufacturing unit in Ahmadabad with 40 per cent of India's AC compressor market) and Mr. Cao Min, President, Shanghai Electric (executing turnkey EPC power projects in India) and Mr. Weimin Yao, Vice President of Huawei (largest Chinese investor in India).

3. During the above interactions, Ambassador encouraged Chinese CEO's to to aggressively explore upcoming investment opportunities in India as part of the Make in India initiative, and also heard out their concerns on some of the key obstacles being faced by them while they conducting business operations in India.

4. Separately Ambassador also visited the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE) on 22nd February, where he was received by Mr. Lin Qiang, President of SDE. Nearly 40-50 Indian traders who are working out of the SDE had an interactive session with the Ambassador and shared their insights on their operations at SDE. It may be noted that Indian diamond traders form the largest component of foreign traders at SDE.

5. Ambassador also interacted with leading Indian companies based in/around Shanghai at an interaction at the Consulate premises under the banner of the CII-India Business Forum. Nearly 40 representatives of leading Indian companies from sectors like pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, IT, banking services and commodities trading called on Ambassador and apprised him of their investment plans for China.

6. In addition, Ambassador also interacted with Board Members of the Indian Association Shanghai, who gave a presentation of IA-Shanghai activities in the eastern China region. During the interaction several key issues on further strengthening outreach with the Indian community and students were identified for implementation in the coming year.

7. Earlier during the visit on 22nd February, Ambassador also met with Mr. K.V. Kamath, President of New Development Bank, who also hosted a lunch in his honour. Since assuming charge as Ambassador of India in Beijing earlier last month, this was the first outstation visit by Ambassador Vijay K Gokhale.

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