Al Gomhuria, p.17, (15/12/2006)
Establishing Indian projects to the value of $ 500 million to be established in Egypt and increasing the quota of exported vehicles
By: Mohammad Al Azawi
Reporting from India
India witnessed a huge industrial renaissance during the past years. Its software production reached $ 50 billion. It is one of the largest countries in terms of investments in iron and steel industries.
It has recently purchased one of the biggest iron and steel companies in England. It is the third country in the world in terms of foreign exchange reserves.
Egypt has close ties with India in the field of investments. The volume of Indian investments in Egypt reached $500 million and it is expected to reach $ 1 billion during the coming period. Vehicle manufacturing industry succeeded in India but it failed in Egypt in spite of the fact that the two countries are developing ones. This was due to the fact that India adopted the policy of producing small cars and made its citizens have faith in them and sense of belonging so that they preferred to buy locally made vehicles.
A car every 26 second
An Egyptian delegation led by Dr. Abdel Moneim Saudi, Chairman of the Egyptian Vehicle Manufacturers Association, visited the huge Suzuki factory in India. It found out that the factory produces a car every 26 seconds. The factory contains all production lines for vehicles and it is manned with 3500 workers.
Reasons of success
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the factory explained that the reasons of the success of the vehicle industry in India is that there is abundance of cheap labor; further, the state has supported small and feeding industries that represent the backbone of such an industry until it became a huge industry. This led several international car companies such as Chevrolet, Honda and Mercedes to invest in India.
Egyptian Indian cooperation
The Chairman of the Board of Directors said that there is close cooperation for several years now to supply the requirements of the Egyptian market stressing that 2007 model of Alto cars will be put for sale in the Egyptian market. It is a car sold at a reasonable price and it has reasonable consumption of petrol. He added that the Indian government is urging the car manufacturers to manufacture engines that run with methanol which is derived from sugar cane.
On the sidelines of the visit, a number of meetings were held between Dr. Saudi and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Katara Factory during which both sides agreed on increasing the quota of exported cars in addition to providing technical assistance and after-sale services.
Dr. Abel Moneim Saudi confirmed that his visit to India had positive results as he probed the state-of-the-art techniques used in manufacturing cars as well as benefiting from the experience of international companies in providing after-sale services and maintenance.
He added that the industrial renaissance in India enabled it to compete with China and made it a hub attracting international companies to invest in it. He added that India has a unique example of small scale industries sector from which several developing and developed countries have benefited.
Mr. Saudi said that it was necessary for Egypt to benefit from the experience of developing countries like India and China in the field of car manufacturing.
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