The CII has chosen the beautiful sun-kissed island of Maldives this time to showcase the best of the peninsula. The Confederation of Indian Industries is organising its seventh `Made in India' show at Male, the capital of Maldives, continuing its efforts to offer Indian companies an opportunity to introduce, launch and market their products and services in new overseas markets.

Maldives is a republic of 1200 islands in the Indian Ocean with a land area of only about 298 sq kms. With other resources very limited, Maldives is an import-dependent economy. Only 200 of these islands are inhabited out of which only 80 have beach resorts.The majority of the population lives in Male. In the last five years, this island nation has become a high growth economy, mainly through utilisation of its wealth of marine life and a rapidly increasing international tourist inflow.

Its largest trading partner is Japan and India comes a not-so-close second. As of now, Indian exports to Maldives are dominated by bulky products at the lower end of the value chain like cement, fruits, betel leaves, betel nuts etc.

Despite India's proximity to Maldives, Indian packaged foods are conspicuous by their absence. Predictably, dairy products come from Australia and New Zealand, while other food products are from UAE and Singapore, mostly. Germany, Europe and France dominate shelf space in personal care products. Building construction materials have huge potential in this island republic. There is serious government effort to enhance availability of residential accommodation, construction of holiday resorts for tourists and development of the one thousand islands which are now uninhabited.Presently, construction equipment and material, electrical items, home appliances and all things engineering are predominantly from Japan.

Increased growth in tourism has necessitated the growth of the transportation sub-sector. Now, Speedboats, “Dhonies” and seaplanes are being used for traveling between islands, depending on the distance. The longest inter island travel could take anywhere between 2-3 days, by seaplanes, depending on the weather. Government thrust on this essential segment could throw up fresh business opportunities. Though it is not a huge market, there is need for world class personnel in various fields. Providing primary and secondary education had huge potential. IT education is another area with excellent potential, especially in areas relating to tourism and healthcare. Higher education through classroom and distance education programmes is feasible, as a majority of the residents speak English. Tourist arrivals are the most from Germany and then from France, Japan, Australia and from other European countries, in that order. With a population of less than three hundred thousand there were over four hundred thousand international visitors in 1999.

The high profile of the visitors to Maldives makes them an excellent target market for all Indian goods, from engineering goods to traditional handicrafts and Curios The Indian handloom and handicrafts industries will benefit immensely by catering to these international tourists who can be easily termed as high spending, high quality international tourists. “The idea of this exhibition is to show Maldives, the capabilities of the Indian manufacturing sector and the advantage in buying Made in India goods for their potential for good service due to proximity of manufacturing base”, says Chandrajit Banerjee, Senior Director, CII.

CII is all set to contact and facilitate contacts as also trade tie-ups for its participants with the purchase managers, maintenance managers, import agencies and other government agencies undertaking overseas purchase activities. Travel agencies and retail chains in Maldives provide huge opportunities for earning foreign exchange. “Being in the SAARC region, Maldives is of strategic importance to us even from the political angle. We consider this our big opportunity. There has been genuine interest both from Maldives government and from India”, says Banerjee.

About 55-60 stalls are expected at this Show. “Big names like Bluestar and Voltas in Airconditioning, Aptech in Information Technology, Godrej Soaps in Consumer non-durables, Wartsila Diesel, Taj Resorts, Sterling Farm Resorts, Gati Cargo, RPG Telecom, Saregama.com (of the erstwhile Gramaphone Co. of India) have already signed their cheques for taking up stalls. There are a number of other big players in the international markets, not to mention agents of smaller manufacturers who have shown keen interest and are expected to confirm participation soon.We are trying to focus on hotel equipments, as the Maldives government is focusing on tourism”, says Banerjee. Apart from this, there is also an India Pavilion where a variety of world-class technology and engineering products of Indian origin are on display in order to highlight the maturity and capability of the Indian manufacturing sector.

The CII is now working on a CEO delegation to Maldives wherein India is projected as a whole, across all sectors. Indian companies, brands, state of the art technology are show cased in these missions. This concept of CEO missions started with Africa, then Kenya, South Africa, Mauritius, Japan and lastly it was at UK. These delegations who meet government personnel in the respective foreign countries prove to be instrumental in furthering Indian trade links with these countries.

`Made in India' is the first professionally managed exhibition in Maldives and CII expects no revenue to accrue from this. At Rs 8000 per sqm for fully built-up indoor space and Rs 6000 per sqm of indoor raw space,CII expects a turnover of Rs 50-60 lakh. Participating corporates and the CII will try and balance out the proceeds so that CII does not make a loss on this effort. “This is primarily a goodwill building and market building exercise. We expect Maldives to develop on the lines of Singapore in the near future and we want to have the first mover advantage”, says P S Krishnan, Director, CII.

“The Greenest Capital in the World” is the motto of Mamoon Md Abdul Gayoom, President of the Republic of Maldives. No wonder then that strict environmental regulations make manufacturing facilities difficult to start. “At present, we are not looking at joint ventures or investments in Maldives. Only exports,” says Banerjee. “There are plenty of business opportunities if Maldives is considered as an export base and is used to circumvent the quota systems and enjoy tax breaks.Eco-friendly industries like garment manufacturing, informational technology may have their base in Maldives, if their economy develops and opens up,” says Krishnan.

All this could be so much easier if only Indian companies are willing to wait for returns or experiment in new markets. A serious effort is on to create India awareness in Maldives and project India as a technology power. “The problem of projecting India as a source for requirements in Maldives is aggravated by the Indian mindset. The Indian concept of brand building is narrow. Our manufacturers do not consider the importance of the mind-share of the market,” says Krishnan.