Slow to begin, Chinese are now biggest investors in Gurugram
GURUGRAM: Unlike their Asian counterparts, China was initially slow to invest in Gurugram but in the last ten years, the situation has changed completely and the Chinese today are among the largest foreign investors in the city.
Unlike the Japanese and the Koreans, who have primarily invested in core sectors of construction, autos, auto ancillary units, textiles and consumer goods; the Chinese have extended the scope of investment in all the sectors — from manufacturing to service delivery firms — China now has a significant presence in terms of providing capital to all revenue-generating firms in the NCR city.
What has given Chinese a huge jump in terms of investment is a fact that they participated hugely in the growing technology startups that have their bases in Gurugram. As these startups began doing well and progressed towards becoming unicorns (billiondollar enterprises), the Chinese only upped their investments further.
Major firms like Delhivery, Hike Messenger, Makemytrip, Oyo, Policybazaar, Snapdeal and Zomato have huge chunks of capital from Chinese investors like Alibaba, Tencent Holdings, Shunwei Capital, Ant Financial Services and Foxconn riding on them.
Various Chinese technology companies have also invested in Gurugram software parks for the development of Apps, browsers, streaming services, search engines and cyber-security platforms.
The Chinese had already begun negotiating with the Haryana Government for a seven million square feet space for setting up a lithium-ion factory which will be used in the electric batteries. Trying to capitalize on its cell phone manufacturing, there were also plans by the Chinese to start up the production plant of Yuho mobiles in Gurugram.
China’s largest SUV manufacturer the Great Wall Motors that has invested close to Rs 7,000 crore in India also has its main office in Gurugram. The Chinese have also begun to explore the potential in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries and have begun to do small scale manufacturing with the Indian partners.
Chinese company Eco Green also has a contract of waste collection from households of Gurugram. Despite several questions being raised on the functioning of the company, the Chinese company has not only survived but in the last one and a half years begun to collect and dispose of waste from more houses in the city.
Most of the traders in the city have now vowed not to sell Chinese products in light of the Galwan Clash, where 20 Indian Army soldiers were killed.