Saudi Arabia today invited Indian companies to invest in various sectors including IT and telecom, electricity, agriculture, education and tourism.
“I invite Indian industrialists to take advantage of opportunities available in Saudi Arabia. We can do more, there are so many areas wherein you can invest,” Saud M Al Sati, Saudi Arabian Ambassador to India said at a FICCI function here.
The two countries should engage in more business and trade by cashing in on the opportunities provided by the growth prospects, he said.
“Also, we offer conducive business environment along with a number of incentives for investors,” he added.
Saudi-India Joint Business Council (JBC) Chairman, Abdulrahman Al Rabiah said the $400 million-odd investment by big Indian companies was insignificant compared with its potential.
There is a lot of room for Indian companies with their high technology and experience to share in development of Saudi Arabia, he added.
Further, Saudi Arabian Ambassador said there is a need for Saudi and Indian companies to engage more with each other and build long-term business partnerships.
Rabiah said Saudi Arabia offers a $624 billion investment opportunity in various sectors like infrastructure, petrochemicals, electricity production, telecom and IT, tourism, natural gas production, agriculture and education.
He said the governments of the two countries have done their job of facilitating two-way business engagements. “Yet, the results in terms of business exchanges are not to the level we would like to see.”
During 2011-12, the two-way trade between the two nations stood at about $37 billion. However, the trade surplus is in favour of Saudi Arabia because of huge crude oil exports to India.
India’s exports to Saudi Arabia include mineral fuels, cereals, steel, iron ore and organic chemicals, while imports comprise crude oil, plastics and its articles, fertilisers, aluminium and leather.