India’s ambassador to Ukraine Rajiv Kumar Chander sees removing the obstacles for Indian companies willing to do business in Ukraine as his main mission. Simplifying visa procedures for Indian travelers could be a major step in this direction.
While a solid 200 Indian business families make up the local expatriate community, there have been a few bumps along the trade road that reflect Ukraine’s not wholly friendly attitude towards foreign companies.
“Last year a number of Indian pharmaceutical companies here came under investigation by the Ukrainian security services,” the ambassador said. “We took up the matter with the Ukrainian government, and it seems to be heading towards a happy resolution. We asked them to tell us about any wrongdoing, but no cases actually went to court.”
As a result of the disruptions, Chander said Indian pharmaceutical yearly sale figures in Ukraine came down from $300-350 million to $250 million.
The ambassador suspects that the reason behind the unprecedented investigation could be to hurt Indian pharmaceutical importers. “The process was going for 7-8 months, during which our products were being held up, and this was giving unfair advantages to local companies” Chander explains. “We hope there was not more to it than meets the eye, but if there are no convictions, then the basis on which these investigations were launched was flawed.”
India ranks second globally in pharmaceuticals by value after Germany, but is first by volume, the Indian Embassy states. India also has the largest number of U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved pharmaceutical plants.
Not surprisingly, India’s strongest business interests in Ukraine are also pharmaceuticals, represented by 30 companies and the Indian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association based in Kyiv. Because of their low cost, these products compete with similar Ukrainian brands.
Bilateral projects
The Embassy of India in Ukraine wrote a letter to the Ukrainian government expressing an interest in bidding for the fertilizer terminal Odesa Portside Plant, when this state asset goes under the hammer. One of India’s biggest Ukrainian imports is fertilizers.
Building sunflower oil pressing plants would be another investment possibility, the ambassador suggested, since India buys 25 percent of Ukraine’s sunflower oil every year.
The successes of Indian economic exchanges with Ukraine can be partly attributed to links established in Soviet times. “India’s first satellite was built in Dnipropetrovsk,” Chander says. “The story begins here. And we are participating in the development of rocket engines, where Ukraine has leading technology.”
In addition, India has contracted with Ukrainian companies to upgrade Antonov aircraft and Russian-built nuclear power stations.
Ukrainian mining experience has resulted in deals to tunnel in the Kashmiri Mountains and building a metro station in Delhi, Chander added. “These are non-traditional areas of cooperation.”
Despite the challenging local business climate, Indians have been steadily increasing trade with Ukraine. “Bilateral trade was $1.5-5 billion when I started,” the ambassador stated, “and now it is up to $3 billion. In 2005-2009 there was a lull in the relationship with the [President Viktor Yushchenko] government’s emphasis on Europe.”
“To be frank, the vast potential of bilateral trade is not being tapped” the ambassador concluded.
The visa issue
However, one of the biggest obstacles to greater Indian economic interest in Ukraine is gaining physical entry.
“Around 4,000 visas are issued yearly by the Ukrainian Embassy in Delhi, mostly to students, and the procedure was lengthy and onerous,” Chander explains. “This has an abysmal impact on relations. I can point to a specific example. A company in Kherson was interested in importing generators, and it found a joint German-India venture that was selling them at half the price of European equivalents. However, the deal could not go through because the Indian side could get a visa for only a few days, which was not enough time. Ukraine needs to make it possible for Indian businessmen to travel freely.”
Ukraine recently removed India from a list of 90 countries to which a special visa regime was applied.
We are pleased with this, but we are still searching with our Ukrainian colleagues for ways to make traveling to Ukraine easier. We feel there is merit in people coming here. Ninety percent of the reason for the barrier to a higher trade turnover is the difficulty Indian businessmen have traveling to Ukraine,” the ambassador said.
The situation is changing on both sides of the divide. By the end of October the Indian government will introduce for 180 countries, including Ukraine, an electronic visa regime, whereby application and payments are made online. The applicant will then receive authorization to visit India for a month. This should make a substantial impact on the number of visitors to India, according to Chander.
Rajiv Kumar Chander joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1983 after obtaining degrees in History and Law. He has held diplomatic posts in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia; Kathmandu, Nepal and Germany. He also served as India’s deputy representative with the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in Geneva from 2006-2009. Ambassador Chander started his mission in Ukraine in July 2011. He is married and has one daughter. Ambassador Chander speaks English and Russian.
Kyiv Post business journalist Evan Ostryzniuk can be reached at [email protected].
