CEO Forum to identify business

Oct 27: The Prime Ministers of India and Malaysia when they met in January 2010, agreed to the establishment of the India-Malaysia CEO Forum as a high-level body, reporting to the two Prime Ministers.

This CEO Forum, which was announced on Tuesday, will complement the initiatives taken by India to forge a strategic partnership even as there is a surge in Malaysian private sector initiatives in the flow of project-related investments into India. These investments are mainly in the telecom, construction, infrastructure development, says a statement issued by India on Wednesday.

It quotes the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) of Malaysia as noting that Malaysian companies have so far completed 51 construction projects worth $2.33 billion in India, while 21 projects valued at $2.28 billion are currently under various stages of implementation.

In the first half of 2009, India’s approved investments in Malaysia were $17.3 million with six projects. Cumulative Indian investment in Malaysia (from 1980 to 2009) is estimated to be about $2 billion. At present, there are over 100 Indian firms operating in Malaysia.

Indian PSUs have an impressive track record in Malaysia, with HMT, EIL, BHEL, IRCON and IOC having been engaged with Malaysia since the 1970s.