Indian Firms Seek Cooperation Opportunities in Real Estate in Vietnam

According to Dr Doan Duy Khuong, VCCI Vice President, as of now, India is among the 10 largest trade partners of Vietnam. Bilateral trade turnover in 2013 reached US$5.2 billion, increasing by over 30 percent compared to 2012 (of which Vietnam's exports to India reached US$2.3 billion and imports from India reached US$2.9 billion). The major exports products of Vietnam to India are mobile phone, computer, electronic products and components, coal, rubber, ore, plastic materials, chemicals and pepper. Vietnam imports from India raw materials for animals, pharmaceuticals, machinery, equipment, raw materials for production.

On investment, so far, India has 77 investment projects in Vietnam, ranking 30^th out of 101 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with registered capital of US$254 million, focused primarily in industries such as manufacturing and mining.

 

According to Dr Khuong, Indian-Vietnam relations have great potential to develop in the future. The foundation of longstanding traditional relationships between Vietnam and India, the India's Eastern policy as well as the renovation of Vietnam are the favourable factors to bring opportunities to promote relations between the two countries. India continues to regard Vietnam as an attractive destination for investment in the areas of oil, steel, minerals, tea, sugar, information technology training, as well as a transshipment point in the South East Asia.

 

"Despite many difficulties and obstacles such as the lack of information about each other's country, the geographic distance, the differences in culture, psychology and routine, and coincided structure of exports products, I believe that with the efforts of the Governments as well as the positiveness of business communities of the two countries, the trade and economic cooperation between Vietnam and India will continue to develop better," Dr Khuong said.

 

Dr Khuong said the real estate market in Vietnam had a hot growth process and then fell into a state of prolonged crisis, with the two major existing problems which are inventory and bad debt. However, over the past three years, the market initially went back to the real value thanks to the support of the Government of Vietnam in implementing fiscal policy, improving liquidity and supporting lending.

 

With the commitment of the Government of Vietnam in removing barriers to help investors accelerate the implementation of the projects through administrative reform, OSS applications as well as solving thorough compensation issues, land tax, and legal issues parallel with the application of sanctions and monitoring to promote the recovery and development of the real estate market in Vietnam. The opportunities to invest in real estate will be more for investors, especially when land prices are adjusted in accordance with reality.

 

According to Tran Ngoc Quang, General Secretary of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, Vietnam has still plenty of room to grow in the segment of residential real estate, tourism and application of new building products, and new industrial construction. Besides, the demand for housing area increases rapidly, the potential of tourism is huge but infrastructure is still poor and insufficient to meet the needs of the people. On the other hand, the level of development and project management of Vietnamese investors are not professional, etc. This may be new investment opportunities for Indian real estate companies.

 

For the cooperation between Vietnamese and Indian enterprises to be favourable in the future, Dr Khuong said that as a representative of the business community in Vietnam, VCCI along with Indian partners will strengthen trade and investment activities. He hopes that through these activities, the relationship between the business communities of the two countries will continue to be developed, the projects and programmes of cooperation between the two countries will be expanded.