India and China took a giant leap in trade ties on Wednesday, first day of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit here, with the signing of 50 memoranda of understanding (MoU).
The MoUs are worth $16 billion, surpassing the $10-billion worth of agreements inked during the recent visit of U.S. President Barak Obama.
The agreements were signed at a ceremony that followed Mr. Wen's address to captains of industry at a meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma was present.
The major agreements included those the China Development Bank signed for billions of dollars in financing with the Reliance Power Limited of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and with the ICICI Bank.
The agreement with Reliance Power Limited provides for $4.63 billion in project financing, including $1.1 billion for the Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project, while the one with the ICICI Bank is meant for a $400-million facility.
The China Development Bank also signed a $2-billion agreement with the Reliance Communications, also of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, while Sepco and Shandong inked a $3.63-billion agreement with the Adani Group for supply of power equipment.
The other agreements include one between Dofang Electric and Abhijeet Projects for supply of power equipment worth $2.5 billion; between the Bank of China and the IDBI Bank for a $1.2-billion facility; between the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the ICICI Bank for a $1-billion finance facility; between Shandong and the Tamil Nadu Power Corporation for supply of $800 million worth of equipment; and between China Aluminium and Vedanta for metal imports worth $330 million.
The FICCI entered into a memorandum of understanding with the China Chamber of Commerce.
On Tuesday, Huawei, a Shanghai-based telecom equipment manufacturer, announced an investment of $2 billion in a new research facility in Bangalore, and a manufacturing unit in Chennai.
