India calls for small scale industrial production

Tanzania has been told to concentrate more on the small scale industrial production in order to increase its economic output to a much higher level, an official with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said. The Director in-charge of trade fair with the CII, Ranjit Jabbir said on Wednesday last week in Dar es Salaam that, development on small scale industrial production in sectors such as agriculture and mining activities are the key elements of individual growth that can help reduce poverty among Tanzanians. Speaking in an exclusive interview, the visiting Indian official said that, Tanzania government needs to empower its youths into making them grow economically by making them engage actively in small scale industrial production development activities. He mentioned such two sectors of economic development bearing in mind the fact that, there is a vast potential of arable land in the country coupled by the mining activities taking place in some regions of the country. Jabbir was in the country for a three day visit leading a team of 104 business people and exhibitors from 16 different companies who are members of the private sectors federation from India who came to explore business opportunities with their products in East Africa land. The 16 companies showcased most affordable and appropriate technology products relevant to Tanzania in a three day Indian trade show which ended on Friday this week at Julius Nyerere trade fair ground popularly known as ‘Sabasaba’ in Dar es Salaam.  The show with the theme, “Enhancing Growth, Nurturing Partnerships” is an initiative for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the government of India, which was organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) who worked in collaboration with the Indian High Commission in the country to promote brand Indian products and their technologies in Tanzania.  He said that, India has grown substantially from small scale industries slowly by slowly and later reached to the current development stage whereby it is among the least economic giant nations in the world practicing highly industrial technologies on its products for the benefit of its nation as a whole. In view of this, he has thrown a challenge to a young country like Tanzania to put much efforts and emphasis on its own people and make use of the country’s resources as there are a lot to be explored from the underground for the development of the nation. In this way however, Jabbir who is an economist by profession pointed out that many people especially youths will get away with poverty stricken situation by depending on these country’s resources for their livelihood. When asked to verify the quality of their products in terms of durability, he noted that, Indian products are durable and lasts longer as the country do not import them. “We do manufacture our own products as we are determined to protect our national industries” he said. However, he said India has seen Tanzania is still a good place to invest because of the existing cultural diversity from the fact that many Indians have been living in the country for generation over 100 years. In view of this, he noted that Indian government has shown interest to continue investments in sector of development such as agriculture, mining, construction, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, banking and Information Technology. He said a developing country like Tanzania must entirely depend on investments for its own resources so as to build a firm national economic base. He said adding that, in this w ay, the country will be able to curb the impending challenges to be faced together with fellow member states within East African Community. For India, he further noted that, they have managed to reach Tanzanian people because of the types of products and brands desired by consumers at the market which he proudly declared to be genuine products. “Indian products have shown a tremendous increase among consumers in Tanzania and this is improving indeed”, he said adding that, the supply of Indian products in the country have penetrated the market up to 60 percent for the last five to six years. Giving an example of the Bajaj manufacturers for motor cycles, he said the market is very robust here in the country as Indian companies improve the modernization of these tricycles with high technology and this has remained a continuous process.  Related statistic records from the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) which this paper had acquired two months ago on the foreign vehicle registration in the country shows that, a total of 7,672 Bajaj tricycles from India were registered in the country between January 2011 and December 2012. This is an increase of over 30 percent compared to the number of 5,612 Bajaj tricycles from India which was registered in the country between January 2010 and December 2011.