By P. Vijian, NNN-Bernama
New Delhi : Unperturbed by recent developments in Kuala Lumpur, the Indian business fraternity has expressed confidence in doing business with Malaysia.
They described the racial discrimination issue, raised by certain quarters, as a domestic problem that is unlikely to have any impact on the two-way trade between the two traditional trading partners.
“Trade between India and Malaysia will not be affected because of an internal problem,” Federation of Indian Export Organisation vice-president A. Sakthivel told Bernama Saturday.
“Businesses depend on government-to-government relations and not between people-to-people ties. We have been at loggerheads with our neighbour Pakistan but our trade and business are flourishing,” he said.
Sharing a similar sentiment, A.M. Sadic (rpt Sadic) Ali, secretary of Indo-Malaysian Exporters and Importers Association, sees no immediate threat to the growing trade volume between both economies.
“There is no fear or apprehension from the trading community here. Malaysia remains promising as ever. No business has been affected after the recent incident.
“In fact, Indian goods moving to Malaysia have increased substantially recently,” he said.
Bilateral trade relations have expanded significantly since 1991 when India adopted the open market policy, with many Malaysian companies participating in India’s development projects.
Likewise, several Indian companies have also based their operations in Malaysia.
Currently, there are about 60 Indian joint ventures operating in Malaysia in sectors ranging from palm oil refining, power generation, railway, civil construction, training and information technology.
Besides, 67 Indian information technology companies enjoy multimedia super corridor status in Malaysia and at least 20 other Indian companies are engaged in various manufacturing operations in Malaysia.