By Fakir Hassen
Johannesburg, June 29 (IANS) The success of the inaugural “Doing Business with India” conference last year and rapid growth in bilateral trade with South Africa is expected to be repeated at the second edition to be held next month.

The July 23 conference is expected to attract more than 200 leaders of trade and industry from India and South Africa to debate the theme “building partnerships when the chips are down”.

Organised by the Indian consulate here in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the event is also supported in South Africa by First Rand Bank, which is moving rapidly to establish a strong presence in India, and the South African ministry of trade and industries.

“South Africa is India’s largest trading partner in Africa. Bilateral trade has grown rapidly over the last few years and touched almost $6.3 billion during 2007-08, and $3.8 from April to September 2008-09,” said India’s consul general Navdeep Suri, who spearheaded the inaugural conference last year.

“We have seen a strong growth in Indian investments into South Africa and a number of leading Indian companies including the Tata Group, Mahindra, Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Cipla, the Jindal group, L&T, Apollo Tyres, SBI, SRF and ICICI Bank have established a significant presence in the country.”

Highlighting the mutual benefits for captains of business on either side of the Indian Ocean, Suri said: “South African companies have also entered India’s aviation, brewery, electronics and financial services sectors.”

According to him, several South African firms that are “world leaders” in areas like mining, infrastructure, logistics, communications and financial services have started looking seriously at India as an investment destination.

The first “Doing Business with India” conference, held in Johannesburg last September, attracted over 250 corporate professionals from India and South Africa.

“The South African delegates appreciated the presentations that gave them a better perspective on opportunities available in India’s rapidly growing, trillion-dollar economy and on the nuts and bolts of doing business with India,” Suri said.

The programme includes a high profile inaugural session and a special session where the deputy governors of the apex banks of India and South Africa will look at the impact of the international financial crisis on the two countries and efforts to counter it.

There will also be separate sessions on the pharmaceutical and infrastructure sectors and Maharashtra.