Ahmedabad: Thailand today organized a road show here to attract investment in the south east Asian country from IT and Pharmaceuticals sectors of Gujarat.

Gujarat Electronics & Software Industries Association (GESIA) partnered in the event which saw a participation of over 60 delegates from IT and Pharma industry.

The Directors of the Board of Investment, Government of Thailand, a body under the Prime Ministers Office of the country, Ms. Kanokporn Chotipal and Ms. Krongkanoke Managitjonggol represented their country.

The two directors elaborated on the opportunities and facilities in IT, ITeS and Pharma sector for Indian Investors in Thailand and invited Gujarati entrepreneurs and investors. They gave presentations about the growing level of engagement between Thailand and India in the IT and ITES sector, as well as highlighted opportunities and areas for India based companies to successfully establish and grow their business in Thailand

Earlier talking to newsmen, Ms. Kanokporn Chotipal, the Senior Diplomat & Director, Investment from Board of Investment said that their office situated in Mumbai was set up to facilitate and provide single window information regarding investment in Thailand. ‘Investing through our office, which doesn’t demand any fee for that, can give many tax and non tax benefits to the investors including import duty waivers. Currently we are focused on IT and Pharma but we also want investment from Bio-tech, Automotive and other sectors,’ She said admitting that the current Indian investment in Thailand was very little in comparison to top investors like Japan, EU, US, Singapore, Malaysia.

To a query she also said that her country was not capable of competing with the Philippines in BPO services (call centers) as the English of Thai people was not as good at the citizens of the Philippines. ‘So we are focused on pure IT business based on software/hardware,’ she said.

Chairman GESIA, Vivek Ogra opined that in the wake of the huge investment of around 7 billion in 33 smart cities in next 3 years and a large chunk of it being on sensors, this business can be a good investment opportunity in Thailand for Indian investors.

DeshGujarat