Facility will create synergy with China's resources
The Sino-Indian industrial park in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India is expected to boost the development of China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by tapping global market resources, Li Zibin, chairman of the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (CASME), told the Global Times at a press briefing to introduce the park in Beijing on Monday.
The Chinese-funded park will be another step forward on the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, Li noted.
Construction of the park, which is scheduled to open within three years, will start in the second half of 2016, said a statement the CASME sent to the Global Times Monday. The first phase is to open in 2018.
More than 100 SMEs have expressed an interest in operating in the park.
The facility will be situated in one of the most dynamic and industrialized cities in India, similar to Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province, Shen Gaohua, CEO of the China Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Group, told the briefing.
Covering 5 million square meters, this park is situated at Ahmedabad, the largest city of Gujarat, in the westernmost part of India. Gujarat's population accounts for 5 percent of India while it contributes 16 percent of national industrial output and 22 percent of India's exports, according to the statement.
By combining the resources of both countries, which are complementary, the park will focus on sectors including construction materials, equipment manufacturing and home appliances, said the statement.
"Chinese SMEs that set up shop in this park can seize opportunities created by India's fast-growing economy," Li said, noting that these companies' profits have been falling because of domestic economic pressure.
In 2015, Chinese SMEs generated revenue of 4.1 trillion yuan ($623.6 billion), up 4.2 percent year-on-year, but the growth rate declined 1.1 percentage points from 2014, according to data released in May on lwzb.cn, a website under the National Bureau of Statistics in China.
In addition, 48,000 SMEs lost money in 2015, accounting for 13.1 percent of all companies of that scale, up 1.3 percentage points from the year before.
