Govt support needed to counter China abroad: Mittal

November 10, 2014 05:10 pm | Updated 05:14 pm IST - New Delhi

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, delivering the keynote address at the India Global Forum in New Delhi on Monday.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, delivering the keynote address at the India Global Forum in New Delhi on Monday.

Indian companies will need active help from the new government in expanding overseas, but such support has been lacking in the past as against China, which has always put its might behind its enterprises, industrialist Sunil Bharti Mittal said on Monday.

“We are facing might of Chinese state wherever we go abroad,” said Mr. Mittal.

Mr. Mittal said when his company ventured into Sri Lanka, the government there was expecting assistance of USD 100 million for a project.

“I conveyed it in MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) and officers in PMO (Prime Minister Office) but nothing moved after that. I could only convey. Few months after that, China doled out cheque of USD 1 billion to Sri Lanka, which helped its companies,” Mittal said at the India Global Forum in Delhi.

He said Indian companies started venturing abroad and investing big after Tata acquired European steel firm Corus in 2006 and soon it was followed by acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover.

“Indian companies are making big investments abroad. Some of them are extremely successful, some moderate and some are in the process. In Africa, I have seen good amount of goodwill for India. Though we cannot match the amount of money they (China) commit in Africa but government can support Indian businesses there,” Mr. Mittal said.

Mr. Mittal said positive changes are taking place under the new government but more needs to be done.

Wockhardt Chairman Habil Khorakiwala said that Indian companies have brought down price of HIV drugs by about 98 per cent in Africa, which was earlier unaffordable for people there.

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