China's Wujiang city invites Indian investment

Chennai, April 11 (IANS) Termed Venice of the East for its intra-city waterways, China's Wujiang city is inviting Indian investment in information technology (IT), bio-technology, new materials, solar power and food processing, said an official of Wujiang Investment Promotion Bureau (WIPB).

"We offer land at attractive rates for foreign investors. We are inviting foreign investments in the areas of IT, bio-technology, solar power, new materials and food processing," Jimmy Zhu, deputy director said at a seminar on investment opportunities in Wujiang organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here Tuesday.

Though no special tax concessions are offered for investors, land is being offered at attractive rates, he said.

According to Angela Chen, senior officer at the WIPB, the once ancient town has now been turned into a harmonious new city.

She said Wujiang is linked to Shanghai in the east, to Zhejiang Province in the south, to the Taihu Lake in the west and to Suzhou city in the north.

Angela said the total population is around 1.55 million and the town's gross domestic product (GDP) is renminbi (RMB) 100.3 billion in 2010.

Till 2010, Wujiang has attracted foreign investment with registered capital of $15.5 billion.

"The first Indian company to invest in Wujiang is LMW Textile Machinery (Suzhou) Co Ltd," she said.

LMW Textile is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Coimbatore-based textile machinery major Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd.

She said the four pillar industries of Wujiang are IT manufacturing, silk and textile, equipment manufacturing, cable and optical cable and the fledgling industries of the area are new materials (textile, cable, energy saving, metal, nano and polymer materials and others), bio-pharmaceutical and food processing.