China steps in to announce 2 industrial parks in India

A day after Japan promised to invest around $35 billion over five years in India's infrastructure, China today said it would set up two industrial parks in the country - one in Maharashtra and the other in Gujarat.

China would invest $5 billion in the Pune industrial park in Maharashtra alone; which would focus on automobile manufacturing in phases over the next decade, Chinese Consul-General in Mumbai Liu Youfa said.

"Excessive security (screening) has killed efforts to increase Chinese investments (in India). Your government has been setting up tall barriers," Liu rued.

China is seeking to boost its investments in India, which remain paltry due to such issues. Direct investments by Chinese firms in India amounted to just $1 billion compared to around $4 billion invested by Indian companies in China, Liu said.

He pointed out that China has made investments of $750 billion across the world.

The agreement for setting up the industrial parks would be signed when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits India later this month, Liu said.

The Pune park would be spread over about 6 sq km, while the park that would come up near Ahmedabad in Gujarat would cover an area of around 10 sq km and would require investments in excess of $1 billion.

The Ahmedabad park would focus on power transmission and generation equipment manufacturing, Liu, who was in the city to participate in a programme organized by the Southern India Mills' Association, said. The first phase of the Pune park, which would be completed in three years, would see investments to the tune of $500 million, he said.

''It would be a smart city. It would have banks, hotels, schools, recreational centres and all facilities," he said.

The Pune park would ultimately employ 1 lakh people and generate billions of dollars in revenues, he said. The park would have 15 companies and a bulk of the investments would come from Chinese firms.