Uhuru ends India visit with call on its companies to invest in Kenya

What you need to know:

President cites ease of starting a business and electricity access among the country’s attractive attributes.

President Uhuru Kenyatta ended his two-day State visit to India by wooing multinationals in the merging Asian economy to invest in Kenya, promising them a conducive business environment.

The president cited reforms in the areas of starting a business, ease of electricity access, registration of property, protection of minority investors and resolving insolvency as some of the attractive attributes of Kenya’s economy.

He was speaking at the Kenya-India Business Forum in New Delhi on Thursday where he met several business leaders including Rajya Kanoria, the chairman of Kanoria Chemical, an industrial chemical manufacturer with a local presence.

“I want to encourage Indian companies to invest in Kenya, especially in the following fields — cotton, textile industry, agri business, fertiliser and medical equipment manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and our blue economy,” he said.

“The state visit by the Prime Minister (Modi) to Kenya last year has also given a lot of impetus. I would encourage Indian investors to work and cooperate closely with their Kenyan counterparts, especially those in the private sector.” Kenya is home to tens of Indian companies, top among them Tata – the largest firm in India’s automotive industry.

Other Indian companies with a presence in Kenya include fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) conglomerate Godrej Consumer Products, automaker Ashok Leyland and soda ash producer Tata Chemicals Magadi, among several others.

During his visit to India, Mr Kenyatta met top executives of Tata as well as others from Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Infosys — a global leader in technology services and consulting.

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted that in the past three years, investment by Indian companies in Kenya had increased by Sh350 billion ($3.5 billion) as a result of business reforms by the Kenyan government.

“I have personally visited Kenya and I can testify that the environment for doing business has improved significantly,” Mr Kanoria said at the business forum on Thursday.

Representatives of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) also attended the meeting.

India is a rising star in the global economy with its middle class offering investors a vast market. The country was until 2013 Kenya’s top importer of goods before it was dethroned by China.

Kenya mainly imports textiles, pharmaceuticals, industrial machinery, vehicles, textiles and semi-processed goods from India.

READ: Uhuru to meet top Indian multinationals officials on State visit

The trade balance is however heavily tilted in favour of the Asian country, with Kenyan exports to India currently valued at less than Sh10 billion.

Last year, Kenya imported Sh252.32 billion worth of goods from New Delhi and exported goods worth Sh8.9 billion, according to the Economic Survey 2016.

Mr Kenyatta also urged quality agencies in both countries — the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Kenya Bureau of Standards — to collaborate in order to enhance trade.

He asked India to improve market access for Kenyan goods such as leather products and pulses.

He also invited Indian investors to take advantage of the special economic zones in Mombasa and along the standard gauge railway.

India this week extended a Sh10 billion ($100 million) loan to Kenya for agricultural mechanisation. The funding deal was signed Wednesday following bilateral talks between leaders of the two countries.