Kerala is looking to attract $10 billion investments from the Middle East through a well-crafted, two-pronged strategy to get regional and global companies as well as Kerala-origin business groups operating in the region to set up back-end centres in the state for their global operations, the state’s industries minister told Arabian Business.
The state, fast emerging as the knowledge-industry hub of India, will soon announce a set of policy initiatives which could include major tax concessions and capital incentives, besides a fast-track approval system, to woo multinationals and regional biggies to set up, what the state’s industry ministry coined as, their “Global Capability Centres” (GCCs) in the state.
The state government will hold an investors meet – christened as ‘Middle East Enclave’ – in Dubai on January 13-14 to hard sell its investment initiatives to regional and global companies and investors from the region, ahead of its ambitious ‘Invest Kerala Global Summit’ in the state in mid-February.
“We are targeting to meet and interact with a large number of global and regional companies operating in the [Middle East] region, besides leading investors including sovereign wealth funds and major family offices, at the investors meet [in Dubai],” P Rajeeve, Industries Minister of Kerala, told Arabian Business in an exclusive interview.
“The meet is also expected to be attended by large companies and investors from other regions as well,” he said.
Leading businessmen hailing from Kerala – including the likes of Yussuf Ali of LuLu Group, Dr Azad Moopen of Aster DM Healthcare, and Dr Shamshher Vayalil of Burjeel Holdings – are understood to be working behind the scenes to make the state’s Dubai investor meet – as also its forthcoming global investment summit – a major success.
The state’s industries minister will also hold discussions with the top leaders of the UAE and various emirates, besides heads of chambers of commerce in the country, during his visit in January to explore and finalise various investment deals in the state.
“Our efforts are to achieve a higher conversion rate on investment plans rather than boasting about fancy, three-digit multi-billion investment commitments at our global investors meet,” he said.
Rajeeve said India, especially Kerala, has deep-rooted trade and cultural ties with the Middle East, especially countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and “we want to further build on them at a time when the two countries are making enormous efforts to expand their non-oil sectors”.
The minister said Kerala also wants to step up further efforts to emerge as the biggest source country for globally competitive tech talents to companies in the Middle East.
Kerala eyes Gulf investments
The Kerala industries minister said the Middle East, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia, is a major focus area for the state’s mega drive to attract investments.
Gulf countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia are currently emerging as among major global growth centres, and the state’s strategy is to play a complementary role in this by offering the vast globally competitive tech talent pool and IT parks in the state to get international and regional companies moving or eyeing expansion into the region to set up their GCCs and other tech centres in Kerala, he said.
“We believe this will complement the far-reaching policy initiatives and multi-billion investment plans by both the UAE and Saudi Arabia to emerge as global growth hubs for several industry sectors,” the minister said.
He revealed that a lot of planning and sector-level investor meets, spread over the last three years, have been done ahead of the forthcoming global investors meet in the state, and therefore the ministry is confident of achieving a far higher rate of conversion of investment commitments into actual projects.
“Our plan is to get companies in the technology and skill-based sectors to invest in the state, taking advantage of the vast tech talent and global-standard tech and IT parks here,” Rajeeve said.
Besides IT, medical devices, food processing, 3D printing and design sectors are among a slew of tech and skill-based industries which Kerala will target to promote in the state.
Kerala attracts global giants
Rajeeve said the state government’s efforts to attract large-scale foreign investments have already started paying with a number of global companies – the likes of IBM and NOV Inc. (formerly National Oilwell Varco), the US oil and gas equipment multinational – already setting up GCCs in the state which caters to their global operations and clients.
Besides, some of the leading corporate groups in the Middle East promoted by businessmen hailing from Kerala, including the LuLu Group, have set up expansive centres in the state to cater to their vast overseas operations, the minister said.
“We have now formed an influential network of Kerala-origin chief executives of international and regional companies, including in the Middle East, to promote investments by their companies in the state,” the minister said.
He said the widely acclaimed natural beauty of Kerala – billed as ‘God’s Own Country’ – and its superior social infrastructure, especially in the health, communication, education and tourism and recreational sectors, are acting as an added attraction for global companies to set up major operations in the state.
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