India adds special spice to Chinese investor's bottom line

Chinese businessman Fan Chengliang (right) works with Indian partners to buy pepper in Andhra Pradesh, India. Fan is one of the Chinese entrepreneurs exporting Indian spices such as pepper and cumin to the Chinese market. CHINA DAILY

Modi said on Sept 18 that he is willing to make concerted efforts with Xi to push forward bilateral ties and he is very delighted to accept Xi's invitation to visit China next year.

India will study and participate in the China-proposed initiatives of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Modi said.

Professor B. R. Deepak, a senior researcher at the Center for Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies with Jawaharlal Nehru University, said that the bilateral trade and economic ties should be strengthened further because there are lots of complementarities between the two countries.

The proposal of the "One Belt and One Road" (the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road), raised by the Chinese government, will benefit the Indian government as well as the people, he said.

The two countries should also sponsor more college students to study in each other's universities to boost mutual understanding, he said.

D. Varaprasad, chairman of the Chinese Studies Center at the School of International Studies, Jawharlal Nehru University, told Xinhua that Xi's visit to India had received an extremely warm welcome.

India and China have lots in common and both countries emphasize inclusive growth and put priority on economic development. China has its "Chinese Dream" and India also has the "Indian Dream". The two countries can realize their own dream by helping each other, he said.

Fan, the spice dealer, expected the warming China-India relationship to bring some real benefit for his business.

"The infrastructure in many places of India remains poor and I hope that China's experiences and its capital can be tapped by the Indian government to improve the roads, power grids and railways," he said.

Fan said he once spent 27 hours on a train from Hyderabad to Gujarat.

"In China, it takes at least eight hours to travel the same distance by high-speed railway," he said.

The businessman's wish of an Indian high-speed railway could come true soon－President Xi told reporters on Sept 18 that the two sides had agreed on cooperation to lift India's train speed and jointly explore ways to upgrade railway stations and develop high-speed railways in the country.

The existing Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore railway line will be among the first to have its train speed increased, and the two countries will launch training programs in heavy-haul transportation, Xi said.

Xi said that Beijing will also take active measures to import more Indian pharmaceuticals and agricultural products that are sold well in China to help balance bilateral trade.

All these moves bode well for Chinese entrepreneurs like Fan.

"I hope it will become easier for me to export Indian spices to China after the agreements made by the two governments," he said.