Leading global operator of marine and inland terminals, DP World today pledged USD 1 billion investment in India to tap into the opportunities the country offers in infrastructure space.

This will be in addition to its existing over USD 1 billion investment here, DP World’s Group Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said.

“We are very excited about the opportunities in India. We are not constrained for capital given the right commercial and economic dynamics...

“We have pledged over a billion dollar investments here,” Sulayem told reporters on the sidelines of India Integrated Transport & Logistics Summit 2017.

The Dubai-based operator, which has already invested over a billion dollars in expansion of its facilities here, said it is looking at several investments in India in the logistic sector and online transactions of customs services.

“Our expertise can help India grow faster in this space as millions of tonnes of wheat and thousands of tonnes of fruits and vegetables get wasted here in want of warehousing and storage,” Sulayem said.

He said DP World is in the country for a long time and wants “to become major contributors in partnership with the government to achieve the objectives of lowering logistics cost in India“.

The supply chain has lots of inefficiencies here and farmers are not able to preserve their crops with half of it going wasted.

“We have expertise in logistics. We have done it throughout the world so we are excited to join hands with government to invest in this opportunity. It will involve policy, procedure, IT hardware, warehouses,” he said.

Earlier in his special address at IITL Sulayem drew a comparison between India and China saying that both the economies had maximum population but there is a huge difference in the amount of cargo handled in both the countries.

“While China handles 100 million container cargo, India handles barely 10 million,” he said.

DP World can help India augment its marine infrastructure as it has helped Dubai, he added.

He said Dubai has made its custom clearance processes online and around 10,000 transactions are completed in 100 days.

Traders in Dubai do not have to step out of their offices for any kind of custom clearances and everything is done online, he said.

Being one of the strongest emerging economies in the world, it offers immense potential for growth in maritime and inland trade, Sulayem added.

He said that free trade zone in Dubai contributed 25 per cent of the country’s GDP and DP World was expert in developing industrial parks and had developed a logistics park in UK and was ready to do the same here.

DP World has invested in the development of five international gateway ports in India. There is also a great need to reach internal markets, invest in cold storage facilities and networks, as well as using coastal and inland waterways to increase efficiencies and lower costs, Sulayem noted.

He said by developing this transport infrastructure at existing ports, multi-modal transport including rail for freight and more use of waterways, there will be a direct economic impact benefiting manufacturing and agriculture sectors.

DP World also entered into a partnership with NIIF here.

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