This has reference to the fine coverage of the Indian Prime Minister's address at the Council of Saudi Chambers in Riyadh by L. Ramnarayan and Shams Ahsan (Saudi Gazette edition of 4 April, 2016). I was happy to note that Saudi Gazette has covered the visit of the Indian Premier quite exhaustively and extensively. Yes, as Narendra Modi has rightly said, there is a need to move from just import-export relations between the two giant economies. The visit of the Indian Premier to Saudi Arabia should also result in increased cooperation and collaboration in industrialization and economic development of both countries. Saudi Arabia and India have many things in common as far economic and industrial development is concerned. Both countries have growing and burgeoning population, which calls for huge investments in the industrial sector and infrastructure sectors. At the same time, the countries have been expanding their industrial base and thereby acquired good knowledge in different and diverse areas. Saudi Arabia has strengthened its industrial base enormously in the Oil and Gas and its affiliated industries besides the petrochemical sectors. It has also demonstrated its prowess in these sectors by establishing world-class plants, facilities, refineries and solid manufacturing base for a number of by-products and chemicals in different parts of the country. Saudi Aramco and SABIC together with their affiliated companies stand as towering examples today and little wonder, these companies are actively and profitably participating with their counterparts in other parts of the world. The growing relations with India should pave a way for collaboration with the Indian companies to gain dominance in other industrial sectors as well as become self-reliant. The added advantage which the Saudi Arabian economy enjoys today is the existence of excellent infrastructure, such as road network, proximity to well operated ports, power, water, telecommunication, etc. The progress and developments in the mining sector, which has already begun on a large scale, too will be beneficial for the economy in the near future. Here too, India could offer its assistance and support. All of the above augurs extremely well for the Saudi economy to embark on a fast-paced industrialization process in the non-oil based sectors. There is an urgent need to shift focus from fabrication and assembling activities to establishing and strengthening the core-manufacturing base. Besides the know-how and management skills, the innate advantage which the Saudi companies will have in cooperating with the Indian counterparts is the level of trust and understanding owing to the presence and long association of Indians in Saudi Arabia. The following are a few of the domains, which remained untouched or barely explored until now and where the Indian companies could collaborate with the Saudi companies: Commercial Vehicles Manufacturing: A very high per capita usage of vehicles in the region should have warranted setting up of plants for manufacturing all types of vehicles ranging from different types of luxury cars and coaches to pick up vans and trailers. Impressive achievements by Indian companies (like Tata and Maruti) stand as testimony to the fact that national companies can effectively compete with foreign companies in this arena. Thanks to the growing demand for different types of vehicles, Indian companies have gained enormous experience in manufacturing passenger cars and other types of vehicles in India. The Indian automobile companies would be quite willing to set up manufacturing units on their own or through joint ventures in Saudi Arabia. Growth in this industrial activity will encourage setting up of factories manufacturing auto ancillaries, components, instruments and forgings. Capital Goods: There will always be a huge requirement of capital goods to cater to not only the oil & gas sector but also other industrial activities. Instead of continually importing these goods at higher costs, there is a need to set up plants to manufacture rather than assemble or fabricate different types of engines & pumps for industrial usage, drilling equipment, rigs, machinery, extruders, construction equipment, hydraulic equipment, pollution control equipment, heavy engineering goods, instruments & tools for testing and troubleshooting, etc. The availability of locally made capital goods will drastically reduce the over all cost of production, operation and maintenance of industries, plants, facilities and construction activities. Power and Telecommunications Equipment: At present, many of the Foreign Institutional Investors "FIIs" are investing heavily in the stocks of Indian companies engaged in the manufacturing of power & telecommunication equipment, owing to their robust order books projecting an enormous demand for these products worldwide. Investments in this field will pay rich dividends as the production will not only be able to meet the demands of the growing national economy but also serve the demands of the entire Gulf region which is also expanding at a rapid pace. The giant Indian companies like Bharat Heavy Electricals Co. Ltd. (BHEL); Larsen & Toubro and Tata Group have demonstrated their prowess in India and other places. Pharmaceuticals: Although, there are a few companies which are manufacturing pharmaceutical products under licenses in Saudi Arabia, but they cover a very few basic areas. There are also a huge number of Indian pharmaceutical companies engaged in the manufacturing of raw material or intermediate materials that is used by the pharma companies for manufacturing of medicines and medications. Joint ventures could be explored with such companies who are always on a look out for market and territorial expansion. IT Parks: The domination of Indian companies in the IT sector is known all over the world. Hundreds of large sized Indian companies have been catering to the IT demands both through onshore and offshore means. From software development for different verticals to providing IT solutions, Indian companies have established their dominance in different parts of the world. By and large, Saudi Arabia still depends on software and hardware companies based outside Saudi Arabia to provide IT products and services for different sectors. Due to lack of thorough competition and dearth of companies in Saudi Arabia, the foreign IT service providers charge phenomenal prices for products and services which hamper the use of IT in the country. The success of large sized Indian IT companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Focus Softnet Solutions who have set up their development centers in Saudi Arabia should encourage other companies to have their onshore base here There could not have been a better time to catalyze the pace of industrialization in cooperation with India on the back of trust and understanding between the two countries. This should also lead to encouraging Saudi individuals and companies to invest in India in different sectors and make good returns on the back of growing economy and development.
