Taiwan-India trade sees a steady rise

KV Prasad in Taiwan

T rade and investment continue to drive India-Taiwan relations and the new administration in Taipei is looking to enlarge this engagement.

“Do you know why Taiwan is keen on promoting trade and investment with India? Because you are the seventh economic power in the world after the United State, China, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom and France,” Tien-Chin Chang, Deputy Minister in the Tsai government, told a group of visiting Indian journalists.

Foreign trade is Taiwan economy’s principle driver and the country’s bilateral trade volume stood at US $588 billion in 2014, with exports of around $314 billion and imports at $274 billion. The trade with India has grown over the past two decades but compared to rest of the world, it is somewhere around $5 billion.

The chances of an Indian citizen either using or being aware of a consumer product made by Taiwan include Acer in computers and HTC in mobile phones, but that does not reflect that some 80 Taiwanese companies have branches in India and engaged in auto parts, consumer electronics, construction and financial services.

Last year in August, Foxconn, the manufacturer of iPhones, announced plans to invest across several sectors like manufacturing, start-ups, energy and e-commerce portals. The company, which has manufacturing plants in China, produces phones for leading brands. The company chairman, Terry Gou, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and later announced $5 billion investment in India.

Minster John Chen-Chung Deng, tasked with trade negotiations, said manufacturing is the country’s strength and the administration encourages companies to engage with various countries, including India. One of the advantages is that it can work to realise the ‘Make in India’ idea and work towards environment protection.

Besides Information and Communication Technology, IT-enabled services, auto components, electrical, machinery, chemicals, textiles and telecom are some of the key interests that Taiwan has in India.

In 2013, the country’s first synthetic rubber manufacturing plant was inaugurated at Panipat as a joint venture between a Taiwanese-Japanese firm and Indian Oil to produce 120 kilotonnes of the product. Early next year, Maxxis, a leading supplier of automobile tyres, hopes to inaugurate its plant at Sanand, Gujarat.

The company currently sources the supplies to leading Indian carmakers from its factory in Thailand. The group, which ranks seventh in the world, has made a $400 million investment to set up the plant that initially would produce 1 lakh tyres for two-wheelers and employ 2,000 people, its vice-president Leonard Liao told the journalists.

Of course, companies have to factor challenges in the form of regulations that vary from state to state, problems of infrastructure, including road connectivity, and liveable environment for personnel from Taiwan who have to be in India.

(To be concluded)