Indian firms want to invest in healthcare, education, energy

Indian companies are showing keen interest to invest in Bangladesh's healthcare, education and energy sectors, with the country's market size becoming bigger and the connectivity between the two neighbours stronger.

Sajal Dutta, chairman and managing director of West Bengal's Desun Hospital, said they are looking for land in four places -- Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet and Khulna -- for establishing specialised hospitals of cardiac, cancer, neuro and gastro care.

"Our target is to establish the hospitals in five years with an investment of Tk 1,000 crore," he said at a press conference organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka yesterday.

ICC Director General Dr Rajeev Singh led a delegation of 85 Indian companies to Dhaka for the two-day India-Bangladesh Business Leaders' Meet, where the Indian and Bangladeshi businesses are discussing business opportunities.

According to data of the Indian government, some 2.5 million Bangladeshis go to India for healthcare every year.

And as per an ICC handout, the healthcare market in Bangladesh is projected to be $14 billion this year, making it a huge opportunity for the Indian healthcare sector.

Sajal Dutta, chairman and managing director of West Bengal's Desun Hospital, said they are looking for land in four places -- Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet and Khulna -- for establishing specialised hospitals of cardiac, cancer, neuro and gastro care

Sajal Dutta said India provides high quality healthcare and Bangladesh has a high demand for this service. On the other hand, many Indian students study medicine in Bangladesh. So, there is huge scope for collaboration between the two countries in this sector.

Prashant Sharma, managing director at the Charnock Hospital in Kolkata, said Bangladesh can focus on nursing education as the profession is of high demand globally.

With this backdrop, the Indian education entrepreneurs said India provides high quality education, for which there is high demand in Bangladesh.

In particular, India can provide quality education in IT, agriculture and technical education, they said.

They also said there appears to a lack of on-campus job placement programmes in Bangladesh and so, Indian educational institutions can have collaborations with their Bangladeshi counterparts to this end.

Dr B Abdul Rafeeq, director of corporate affairs at the Punjab-based Guru Kashi University, said they have a long-term investment plan for education in Bangladesh.

"We have opportunities to invest if Bangladesh's government cooperates and coordinates with us. We want to establish a group of institutions and universities in the country," he told reporters.

According to the ICC, the size of the higher education market of Bangladesh is $4.6 billion.

An official of Indian public sector hydropower company NHPC Ltd said Bangladesh has huge demand for power, and given the climate change aspect, hydropower will be an important component in energy production.

Bhutan and India's Northeast can also be an important source of hydropower, he said, adding that the company is already producing hydropower in Nepal that can be eventually imported to Bangladesh.

Additionally, both the India and Bangladesh delegations discussed the business potentials of trading agricultural products between the two countries.

However, they said there are still tariff and non-tariff barriers that need to be removed to ensure smooth business in this regard.

Abdul Matlub Ahmad, president of the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also spoke.

During a separate event at the same venue -- the BIMSTEC Energy Conference -- Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma said, apart from transport connectivity, energy connectivity needs to be strengthened in the region as its future depends on these two sectors.

Net trade in the BIMSTEC region is $3 trillion, but the intra-trade is only worth $75 billion, he said while stressing that the sub-regional body needs to be made efficient by facilitating trade.