India To Be Key Trade Partner Says Malaysian Deputy Minister

Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) today facilitated the first trade mission from Malaysia post the pandemic, under the new Malaysian government. The trade delegation was led by Senator Fuziah Salleh, Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN), Government of Malaysia who underlined India as a key trade partner for his country.

The Special Trade Mission to Bengaluru was aimed at promoting Malaysian franchise brands in India while offering a platform for Indian franchises to invest in Malaysia. The mission also witnessed business matching programmes and meetings facilitated by BCIC between Malaysian companies with investors and local Indian entrepreneurs for business cooperation.

Elaborating on the opportunities in Malaysia for Domestic Trade, Salleh said, “This trade visit is a significant milestone for us. India is growing rapidly, and we need to re-evaluate how to do trade with the country.”

He emphasised believing in the huge potential in the franchise industry, we consider India as a very important trading partner moving forward. As a new government in Malaysia, we have introduced seven interventions and franchises are one of them. 

Salleh stressed that Malaysian franchises could develop and grow here in Karnataka and given the huge opportunity for the franchise industry in Malaysia, our government is working to make franchises affordable by introducing a RM 100,000 that housewives for example can explore. 

We also welcome Indian franchises to Malaysia, shared the Deputy Minister.

S Devarajan, President of BCIC said, “By facilitating this trade visit, BCIC has created further avenues for developing trade and development. We see great opportunities where India and Malaysia can collaborate in terms of startups, ecommerce, IoT, and education.”

Indian traders can also benefit from RBI's policy of allowing trade in Indian rupees as against the US Dollar in the ASEAN region. This way they can achieve better prices for goods and services and save on currency conversion. Overall, this would be a win-win situation for both countries, added Devarajan.

Additionally setting the context of the opening ceremony of Franchise Malaysia in Bengaluru, K Saravana Kumar Consul General of Malaysia, Chennai said, “Malaysia is the third largest trading partner for India in the ASEAN region, with bilateral trade amounting to USD 9.4 billion in 2021-2022. 

He said Malaysia and India need to work towards how to fill up opportunities that exist and we believe franchises are one of them. Our aim is to improve the standing of trading partners from the existing eleventh position, and we strongly believe that Karnataka can be the gateway for that. 

The KPDN’s delegation consisted of KPDN officials, the Malaysian Foreign Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) and the Malaysian Franchise Association (MFA) and seven Malaysian franchises. These franchises namely Aloha, Little Caliphs, Marrybrown, Q-Dees, Sangkaya, Smart Reader Kids and UCMAS also set up a mini exhibition at the Malaysian Franchise Trade Expansion Mission to Bengaluru.