‘Woo India’s solar panel sector to invest in Malaysia’
KUALA LUMPUR: As Malaysia tries to attract investments from India’s cash-flushed companies which have benefitted from the on-going economic boom, an area which can be particularly interesting is the solar panel industry.
India, which is projected to continue to post between seven and 7.5 per cent growth rate this year and driven by its voracious appetite for energy, has generally shown interest in this industry.
Mukund Deshpande, a Mumbaibased industry analyst working with an investment bank, told Bernama “India has the dynamics of its own in this field and as the solar panel industry likes to say here, ‘The sun is the limit’”.
But India’s solar panel industry has also taken a few hits recently.
The latest was the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling that India’s solar initiative had violated trade rules because it had offered its domestic industry a 10 per per cent quota for the supply of panels, leaving the rest to foreign competitors.
The WTO, on Feb 24, ruled against India’s national solar mission whose goal is to leapfrog growth in the country’s renewable energy and to bring energy to millions of people by 2022.
While it remains to be seen how the Indian government will react to this ruling, the decision highlights the fact that India’s industry would not be disinclined to shifting, at least, a part of its production to a country such as Malaysia with its business-friendly environment, a huge hinterland ASEAN market of roughly 600 million and its own acknowledged prowess in solar panel production.
Malaysia’s strategic location, in the midst of the Asean region and between two giants, China and India, is another factor that could fuel the Indian industry’s inter-
India has the dynamics of its own in this field and as the solar panel industry likes to say here, ‘The sun is the limit’.
est in Malaysia as an investment ground.
Mumbai-based Director of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Sherulanuar Abd Karim, said he has discerned “great interest” among Indian companies to invest in Malaysia.
Sherulanuar is responsible for serving the entire South Asia region, with India serving as a focal point.
“The investment flow into Malaysia is active with Indian companies always looking for opportunities for business.
“Investments from India into Malysia in 2014 had amounted to RM800 million, exceeding the target of RM500 million set for us.
“By September 2015, we had already achieved 60 per cent of our target of RM500 million,” Sherulanuar told Bernama recently.
Indian companies, he said, were looking for a good location that offered stability and a businessfriendly environment.
MIDA’s ‘single-stop window’ was appreciated by Indian businesses, he said.
“We organised meetings with Malaysian companies and also help them overcome the initial hurdles and stay in touch with the companies even after they started their operations,” Sherulanuar said.
Besides the solar panel industry, which is only one area in which energy-hungry countries such as India and China have shown keen interest, executives of Indian companies in private conversations have also expressed interest in the Kulim Industrial Park.
MIDA is targeting specific industries in India such as pharmaceutical, hi-tech electronic and electrical, chemicals, steel (specialised steel varieties), aluminium, oil and gas, etc.
Collaborations between Indian and Malaysian companies in the area of energy are inherent with good business potential.
Sherulanuar discerned a propensity among Indian companies to set up manufacturing operations in Malaysia which will help create jobs and enable both sides to further flourish and grow in a business-friendly environment. — Bernama
Mukund Deshpande, analyst