(From left) Umang, Suniti, Saraswathy, Lalita and Reddy at the CIIM Deepavali gathering.
Consortium of Indian Industries in Malaysia (CIIM) kept up with its tradition of having an annual Deepavali celebration.
Playing hosts at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club were CIIM founder-chairman Datuk Umang Sharma and his wife Datin Suniti.
The chief guest was Deputy National Unity Minister Senator K. Saraswathy (then deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives minister), who was joined by Indian High Commissioner BN Reddy and his wife Lalita Devi.
Also present were HSBC Bank Malaysia chairman Datuk Kamaruddin Taib, Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Digital Investment head Raymond Siva and senior officials from Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti), Malaysian Investment Development Authority, Talentcorp and MDEC
Also present were heads and senior officials from other chambers of commerce and associations.
In his speech, Umang said CIIM had been doing its bit to promote trade and investment between India and Malaysia, citing business delegations led by Reddy, who is also CIIM patron, to Sabah, Sarawak, Penang and Melaka to explore business opportunities.
As part of a business networking initiative, he said a CIIM Golf Invitational Tournament was organised in March with 150 golfers from the business community participating.
“The highlight of the event was the participation of His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in the golf tournament,” he said.
Umang said bilateral trade between Malaysia and India reached US$20bil (RM93bil) last year, adding that with the Indian economy crossing US$4 trillion (RM18.6 trillion) recently, relations between both countries were on the upswing.
“This is also evident from the multiple bilateral ministerial level visits this year.
“Recently, Indian companies have also invested in Malaysia,” he said.
