Taiwan-India cooperation, particularly in the information technology field, has a huge potential to make the two countries invincible around the world, Taiwan and Indian officials claimed yesterday.
Speaking at a seminar sponsored by the CNA on Taiwan-India business prospects and challenges, India-Taipei Association Chairman Vijay Gokhale said that India, which is undergoing a "profound and incredible" transformation since economic opening in 1991, provides enormous business and investment opportunities.

Thanks to the Indian government's stable economic policy, the country now counts a middle class of more than 100 million people, a number that is expected to quadruple by 2015, Gokhale said, encouraging Taiwan people to visit India.

Wu Hsin-hua, deputy director-general of the Bureau of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) , said that he ministry has listed India as one of its nine foreign markets worthy of exploration by Taiwan companies. The ministry sent two trade promotion missions to India last year, while India also dispatched a group to Taiwan, he noted.

According to Wu,some 1.24 million of India's 1 billion population are customers with strong purchasing power, while 37 million families are capable of buying durable goods, making India a market attractive to foreign traders.

The MOEA will be very happy to see cooperative ventures forged between Taiwanese and Indian enterprises, in particular in the IT sector, he said, adding that the two countries will be able "to sweep through the whole world" if they team up to tap the global market.

Wang Hsi-mong, a deputy director at the semi-official Taiwan External Trade Development Council, said that the two countries stand a good chance of breaking into other fields such as electronics and automobile parts and accessories.

Citing government statistics, Wang reported that Taiwan exports to India hit more than US$1.07 million last year, while imports from totaled US$860 million. Two-way Taiwan-India trade exceeded the combined level of Taiwan's trade with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, he noted.

Claiming that India offers a tremendous potential market for Taiwan businesses keen to diversify, he suggested that domestic companies make the Indian market a target in their strategic market deployment plans to pursue new horizons.