Czech companies to invest $2 bn in India in the next two years

Czech companies like Bonatrans Group, Vítkovice Machinery Group, Škoda Power, Skoda Auto, radar systems maker Eldis, data and telecommunication racks manufacturers Conteg and Linet among other groups will invest in India in a big way, with €400-million investment planned in Maharashtra alone, over the next two years.

The proposal was made at a meeting of members of the Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC) with Jana Peterkova and other officials of the Embassy of the Czech Republic.

Czech companies like Skoda are already present in India and more and more companies from that country are interested in investing in India, Peterková said.

''India ranks amongst the top 12 priority countries for promotion of mutual commercial, investment and other economic activities. The interest of Czech companies to invest in India is growing and Czech companies are emerging as major investors in automobile, energy, infrastructure and large industrial projects in India," she said.

The focus is on automobile, energy, power and defence sectors, she said.

"Czech Republic is one of the ''sweet spots of Europe'' that has low-cost highly-efficient economy,'' she said, adding, ''We are also offering incentives to corporations working in the area of development and research and strategic services (such as software development), in a form of discounted tax rate extended from the current five to ten years.