War, SARS leave CII in the lurch

The Iraq war and scare of SARS have turned out to be the biggest dampener for the Confederation of Indian Industry’s business initiativ...

The Iraq war and scare of SARS have turned out to be the biggest dampener for the Confederation of Indian Industry’s business initiatives abroad. In the last one month, the chamber had to cancel four business delegations scheduled in the month of April.

The first war victim was a CII Defence Mission which was supposed to visit Israel in the second week of April. CII’s Deputy Director General S Sen told The Indian Express, ‘‘Since Israel is very strong in the defence sector, we were interested in looking at technology and joint venture investments between the two countries.’’ It was a 12-15 member delegation, supposed to be led by Atul Kirloskar of Kirloskar Oil Engines, and was expected to have other leading names as part of the team. However, due to the ongoing war in Iraq, the members themselves backed out, Sen said. Yet CII is not giving up.

It is confident to take this delegation again as and when the area is free from all troubles. ‘‘We want to go there as soon as we can,’’ Sen maintained. Later this year, CII is also planning to take defence delegations to France and Russia, other major countries in terms of defence production.

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Before this, the CII team has already visited USA, UK and South Africa.

The chamber which represents almost all Indian manufacturing and engineering giants, is keen that 70 per cent of India’s defence requirements should be met through the indigenous industry. Right now, only 30 per cent of defence requirements are fulfilled indigenously. As a result, CII is busy playing the role of facilitator by gauging the requirements of the Indian defence industry and conveying it to its members.

CII’s defence-related activities have received a further boost with the government opening up the defence sector for the Indian private sector, and allowing 26 per cent foreign participation in defence production. Leading Indian manufacturing companies including Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Ashok Leyland are already active in defence-related production.

Due to the war, CII also had to cancel a business delegation to United Arab Emirates and Oman.

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However, it is not war but the dread of SARS which forced CII to cancel its China Summit, scheduled to be held on April 14-15. Another Indian delegation of the steel industry was scheduled to visit China on April 16-17 which stands cancelled now.

China has emerged as a big market for Indian steel and leading industry players were keen to explore and forge partnerships with their Chinese counterparts. The next dates have yet to arrive to resume business in these countries, a CII official said.