South African Bank Major-Standard-to set up shop in India

The largest South African Bank-Standard- having operations in over 40 countries, has applied for permission from RBI for starting Indian operations. Business Analysts feel that the initiative of the South African Bank is a direct fall out of the large Indian investments taking place in that country.

This was disclosed by a senior functionary of the Standard Bank, who was a part of the high-level business delegation, which met the members of the PHD Chamber today in New Delhi.

At the interface, which was keenly participated by the Indian and South African businesses followed by one-on –meetings, PHD Chamber has mooted the idea of evolving an institutional framework for imparting training to budding entrepreneurs and professionals in South Africa by Indian experts. This will create a proactive band of young people who can set up small and medium enterprises and also mitigate growing skill shortage in that country.

This initiative, which is being given concrete shape by the PHD Chamber, will run parallel to the joint program being implemented by the Indian and South African governments. The South African High commission official present at the meeting clarified that under the joint program, Indian corporates- Tata and Satyam-are conducting intensive training programs for potential entrepreneurs and technical professionals in South Africa. More such companies are roped in. The rationale of their involvement in training is to create qualified manpower for their requirements and also to expand the base of SMEs in South Africa.

Significantly, India occupies the second position in the pecking order of FDI per country on a cumulative basis since 1996 in South Africa. Total investment from Indian enterprises in South Africa since 1996 aggregated to R’M 9,928 million (US$ 1.57 billion), which is only second to investment from UK. South Africa has recently relaxed immigration laws to tide down the skill crunch faced by the investing countries. This will be a short-term phenomenon. In the long run, South Africa wants skill sets to be indigenously developed and that too with the help of friendly countries like India. Indian enterprises also can benefit by developing locally available skill since import of manpower would prove to be costly.

Mr VC Jain, Chairman, International Affairs Committee for Africa, PHD Chamber said that the Chamber would be looking at developing training kits on an enterprise to enterprise level, taking into consideration sectoral requirement. Referring to the Focus Africa Program being successfully implemented by the Government of India, he said that training could form an integral part of the program package against the backdrop of a large number of Indian companies setting up Greenfield projects in that country, such as Ranbaxy, Apollo tyres, etc. There is also a large Indian presence in sectors like mining, IT, education and tourism in South Africa

Mr Ravi Issar, Advisor, trade & Investment, South African High Commission has explained about the emerging trilateral agreement among India, South Africa and Brazil and hoped that the partnership would be mutually beneficial to all countries in the group.

Significantly, the South African delegation representing various interests like mining, manufacturing, BPO, tourism, banking, etc. had one-on-one meetings with Indian counterparts.