Bangladesh invited to invest as Modi launches ‘Make in India’ campaign

India has urged Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to invest there taking facilities offered to foreign investors under the ‘Make in India’ campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi unveiled the campaign in New Delhi on Thursday, calling upon local and foreign entrepreneurs to invest in the country with the hope to turn it into a top global manufacturing hub.

Indian High Commission in Dhaka organised a function at Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre at Gulshan to show Modi’s address live to local businessmen and journalists.

Bangladeshi businessmen including Nitol-Niloy Group Chairman Abdul Matlub Ahmad, Pran-RFL Group Managing Director Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, and India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice-President Safkat Haider were present.

After Modi’s speech, Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran said at the function that India wanted to see all the South Asian countries by its side in its “new march to advancement”.

He said Bangladesh government or entrepreneurs could invest in India “if they wished”.

Saran said Bangladesh could invest in power sector, especially in hydroelectricity generation, in India’s north-eastern states.

There were also huge opportunities in the private sector, he added.

Modi, accompanied by India’s leading industrialists and businessmen including Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus P Mistry, launched the campaign at Vigyan Bhavan conference Complex in the Indian capital.

Diplomats of different countries and top officials of multinational companies were present at the function.

Indian high commissions and embassies in different countries invited local businessmen to show Modi’s address live.

Modi also unveiled the logo of ‘Make in India’ and the cover of a periodical on 25 potential sectors of the country and launched a website -- makeinndia.com.

Besides Dhaka, the Indian prime minister’s address was also shown live in Chittagong and Rajshahi.

After the speech, Indian Assistant High Commissioner in Chittagong Somnath Halder addressed local businessmen at a hotel.

He informed them of the investment potentials in Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and seven northeaster states of India.

BSRM Group Chairman Alihussain Akberali, BGMEA Director Syed Nazrul Islam, Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice-President Syed Jamal Ahmed and Director Mahfuzul Haq Shah, PHP Group Director Ali Hossain, State Bank of India’s Chittagong office CEO Debashish Nandi and Nitin Arora of KDS Group were present among others.

At the event in Rajshahi, India’s Assistant High Commissioner Sandip Mitra was present to speak to the audience.