Indian firms to boost investments in Indonesia

Indian companies plan to invest heavily in Indonesia over the next five years despite last month’s twin hotel bombings, according to major participants of the Made in India business exhibition, which begins Friday, The Jakarta Globe reported.

India’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Biren Nanda, said at a pre-launch roundtable on Wednesday that Indian investors saw great potential for growth in Indonesia given its substantial natural and human resources.

“Out of 100 delegates, no one has expressed a single concern regarding security here,” he said. “It is universally recognized that Indonesian authorities have done a good job in cooling extremist groups. One incident doesn’t change that.”

He added that the future of economic cooperation between the two countries seemed promising, with Indian investment expected to grow by 50% in 2010 to $6 billion.

Industry Minister Fahmi Idris also said the government has invited India to set up a joint venture to manufacture textile machines and to build turbines for the country’s power expansion program, a project expected to last until 2015, Antara reported.

Indian companies that have already made significant foreign direct investments in Indonesia include steelmaker Essar, petrochemical company Indorama and Bajaj.