31 January 2010

Mauritius : Investment Mission to India

An investment mission was organized from 17 to 22 January 2010 in India targeting New Delhi and Mumbai. The mission was led by the Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Economic Empowerment, Dr the Hon Rama Sithanen. The Managing Director of the Board of Investment and the Chief Executive of the Financial Services Commission formed part of the delegation.

The objectives of the investment mission were to:

* Reinforce the image of Mauritius as a reputable and attractive financial services centre, with modern legal and regulatory framework for global business;
* Increase awareness of Mauritius opportunities as a financial platform for outbound investments from India, particularly to African Countries;
* Encourage Indian financial intermediaries to set up in Mauritius to manage their global business ;
* Promote investment opportunities in Mauritius namely in the ICT/BPO, pharmaceutical and healthcare as well as real estate and property development; and
* Sensitise Indian investors about the possibility of using Mauritius as a gateway for penetrating the Eastern and Southern African markets.

In New Delhi and Mumbai, plenary sessions on Financial Services were organized and were attended by more than 100 operators in the financial services sector i.e financial advisors, lawyers, accountants, private equities, funds and banks. Reassurance was given to investors during those sessions on the jurisdiction and they were invited to look at the possibility for them to manage their business out of Mauritius instead of structuring their investment through Mauritius. The idea was positively received by the members present. The VPM also re-emphasized the importance of using Mauritius as a financial platform for outbound investments for emerging markets and particularly to African Countries.

Many of the leading funds, private equities and banks such as ICICI Venture Fund, Rabo Private Equity Advisors, Chrys Capital, Redfort Capital, CX Partners, Baring Private Equity, Religare Advisory Services, Yes Bank, Mefcom Capital, IDFC, Amarchand & Mangaldas, JM Financials, IL&FS, Aditya Birla Asset Management, Birla Sunlife, 3i Capital, Bajaj Capital and Citi Bank attended the event.

Besides reinforcing our image as a reputable financial center of substance, the mission also aimed at creating awareness on the other investment opportunities. Investor Roundtables were organized in both Delhi and Mumbai to promote the opportunities in the ICT/BPO, real estate and hospitality as well as pharmaceutical and healthcare. The Roundtables, structured as interactive sessions, were moderated by either experts in the respective field and media people. Indian investors that are already present in Mauritius were invited to share their views and experience that they had in the country.

The ICT/BPO roundtable was moderated by Mr Gaurav Gupta, Country Head from Everest Consulting and had as panelist the VPM, the MD of BOI and Mr Raman Roy from Quattro. Emphasis was placed on the growth of the BPO sector in Mauritius, its contribution to the economy and how Mauritius has moved from voice-based BPO and contact centres to high value-added activities such as Financial, Legal , Medical BPO, Software Development, Multimedia Development, Data Centres for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery which represent today 60 % of the activities. It was also pointed out that the package for ICT/BPO in Mauritius is attractive: it is a blend of cost-competitiveness with service quality, adaptability and flexibility. Our strength also lies in our bilingualism and our simple and low fiscal regime. Some of the leading ICT companies like Fidelity Business Services, Genpact, NewGen, Microsoft and Tata Consultancy attended the roundtable.

The Real Estate and Hospitality roundtable was moderated in Delhi by Mr Tejeesh Behl, Corporate Editor of Mint and in Mumbai by Mr Ashok Advani of Business Today. Mr Gautam Raj, EVP Strategy and Development of the Oberoi Group was part of the panel in Delhi and shared the good experience that the Group had in Mauritius. He also announced that the Oberoi Group is expanding its presence in Mauritius by developing an 80-room hotel around the wellness and spa concept in collaboration with a local partner.

In Mumbai, Mr Philippe Kalkaria from Tata Realty shared his experience with the members present.

Many leading property developers and investors in the hospitality sector as well as infrastructure such as DLF, ITC Welcome, Rajeha Developers, Unison Hotels, Gammon Infrastructure and Vishal Infrastructure attended the roundtables.

The Pharma and Healthcare roundtable was attended by around 20 companies mainly in the pharmaceutical sector and research and development. The session was moderated by Dr Milind Atani from Nishith Desai Associates and Mr Sanjeev Vashista from Fortis shared his experience on the panel. Emphasis was placed on the development of a fast growing healthcare and lifesciences industry in Mauritius. It was also highlighted that the country is on its way to become a healthcare, wellness and medical outsourcing hub par excellence, supported by a strong pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices industries, and driven by high-end biomedical research and innovation.

The delegation also had an extensive interaction with the press during their visit. There is currently a wrong perception in the Indian Press that Mauritius is being used to launder illegal and illicit money and our international financial centre is also perceived as being a tax haven. It is, therefore, essential for Mauritius to remove that negative perception and to be actively promoted as a Global Business Jurisdiction of Substance. This is very important so as to reassure the business community as well as to reinforce our position on the Indian market. The delegation engaged extensively with the press and stressed on the fact that Mauritius is a clean jurisdiction, is well regulated and the measures taken to reinforce the image of Mauritius as a jurisdiction of substance was also highlighted. The extensive interaction with the Press was widely reported in the following papers: Indian Express, Times of India, Economic Times, Business Standard, the Hindu, Financial Times, CNBC TV 18, UTVI Bloomberg and ET Now.

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