(From left) Mohammed Ravish, CFO-Budget Rent a Car; Eng. Mohialdin Yahya Hakami, Assistant Secretary General, JCCI; Faiz Ahmad Kidwai, Indian Consul General and Madan Kumar Girdayal, Commercial Consul during the ‘Foreign direct investment in India' forum. Syeda Amtul Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – The Consulate General of India, in association with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and industry (JCCI), organized a seminar on opportunities for “Foreign direct investment in India” and “Taxation in India” at the JCCI premises on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion as chief guest, Eng. Mohialdin Yahya Hakami, Assistant Secretary General, JCCI, said “after having Jeddah Economic Forum” recently, we started one important business now that we are assign for committees in the chamber of commerce. Now we began setting different committees, these committees will be an important arm of JCCI for doing business.” He said these committees will handle the business and try to simplify the process between government and private sector. According to him, 70 committees exist in around 75,000 members of JCCI. Elections for these committees will be held in six to eight week from now. He also praised Indians nationals as masters in information technology and said “if we are talking about programmers, as I am having a background of 17 years G.M. in I.T field, no one other can beat India in this field.” He hopes for the best trade relations between Saudi Arabia and India. Consul General of India Faiz Ahmad Kidwai briefed JCCI about two scheduled presentations , the first one is foreign direct investment in India and second is taxation regime in India, both of them relevant to investors. The lecture on foreign direct investment showcases the strength the Indian economy to observe FDI and the second taxation regime shows about taxation structure in India on which the earning of investment depends. Kidwai said “our bilateral trade has reached $43.7 billion in the last financial year, but the level of investment on both sides however is still is very low. The Indian investments in Saudi Arabia till this date amount to about $1.6 billion and some other large investments are in the pipeline. Saudi investments in India are about $228 million as of last year.” “I feel that there is a need for the two countries to understand each other and more importantly believe in each other. It is for the dissemination of information among the Saudi businessmen that we are organizing this seminar,” he said. He highlighted some of the specific projects of India of interest to Saudi investors. He also said “Indian taxation system also undergone tremendous reforms like tax rate has been rationalize and tax laws have been simplified resulting in better compliance, ease of tax payments and better enforcement. This is an ongoing process and relations between two the countries have been strengthened by trade and commerce, with high level visits between the leaders of two countries. We need to further develop these strengths,” he pointed out. “I urge you to look at India as a very favorable investment destination. In this regard, today's presentation is beneficial,” he added. Madan Kumar Girdayal, Commercial Consul in Indian consulate, presented foreign direct investment in India in which he highlighted the features of Indian economy, most attractive characteristics of Indian market, FDI regime and annual results of different companies. Mohd Ravish, CFO-Budget –Rent a car, from the Jeddah Chapter of Institute of Charted Accountants of India (JCICAI), presented “India-Overview of Tax and Regulatory Framework.” He highlighted taxation regime which shows the taxation structure in India on which the earning of investment depends.
