KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — India’s Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan, who is on a two-day visit to Malaysia, highlighted the vast potential for bilateral trade expansion between Malaysia and India, particularly in sectors such as food engineering and electronics.

Muraleedharan, who arrived here yesterday, also encouraged the Malaysian business community to actively engage in India’s trade and business initiatives.

"India is a land of incredible diversity and has so much to offer to everyone. I urge the business community to explore these opportunities,” he said in his speech at a luncheon hosted today in his honour at the Royal Lake Club by the Consortium of Indian Industries in Malaysia (CIIM) and Malaysia India Business Council (MIBC).

The luncheon was also attended by President of MIBC Tan Sri Kuna Sittampalam, chairman of CIIM, Datuk Umang Sharma, Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia, BN Reddy and captains of industry.

Regarding investments in the manufacturing sector, Muraleedharan noted the limitless opportunities for foreign participation in areas including infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence, semiconductors, renewable energy, space technology, textiles, agriculture, and food processing.

Highlighting the strengthening bilateral trade and investment ties between Malaysia and India, Muraleedharan mentioned that trade between the two countries had reached US$20 billion (RM91 billion), making Malaysia India’s third-largest trading partner within Asean while India stood as one of Malaysia’s top 10 trading partners.

Meanwhile, Umang in his speech stated that over 250 Indian companies have invested more than US$3 billion across various sectors in Malaysia. These investments have directly created job opportunities for over 30,000 Malaysians and indirectly contributed to over 100,000 jobs.

Additionally, Sharma expressed hope for the review of the Malaysia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (MICECA) signed in 2011 in the near future.

He believed that this review could unlock great potential, allowing both countries to increase bilateral trade from the current US$20 billion to US$30 billion by 2027, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and India. — Bernama