As many as five projects are under consideration now for investment in East African countries that will be facilitated under the Supporting Indian Trade and Investment for Africa (SITA) project.
Govind Venuprasad, co-ordinator, SITA office for Asia and the Pacific, told The Hindu here on Tuesday that in the last four months, SITA had received proposals from mid-sized Indian companies for setting up two plants for processing of rice and beans in Rwanda, a sugar refinery in Tanzania, a pulses processing plant and a unit to process animal products. The approximate investment of these projects was expected to be $18 million.
Earlier, speaking at a meeting organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, he said countries covered under the SITA project were India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. The implementation phase for the project started in April this year and would be on till March 2020, and the focus sectors include leather, cotton, textiles, apparel, coffee, spices, essential oils, IT and ITES, and pulses. The Exim Bank was keen and was open to supporting bankable projects, he said. Indian partners and companies can look at investment, export of products and capital equipment, and technology and knowledge transfer to these countries.
Rajesh Aggarwal, chief of trade facilitation and policy for business, International Trade Centre, said these African countries had zero duty access to European Union and the U.S and this would be an advantage to the Indian companies that invests or set up projects in these countries.
