Consulate
General of India
Hong Kong
***
India-Hong
Kong Bilateral
Brief
Background:
India’s relations with Hong Kong are historical
and date back to the 1840s when Hong Kong became a British
colony after the Treaty of Nanking as the result of the
First Opium War. From trading ties established in the middle
of the 19th century, relations today span sectors such as
investment finance, services, maritime, shipping, logistics,
culture, education and trade. The Commission for India in
Hong Kong was set up in 1951 and it was re-designated as
Consulate General of India on 15 October 1996 in advance of
China’s assumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong on
July 1, 1997. The Consulate also has accreditation to Macau,
which reverted from Portuguese to Chinese sovereignty on
December 19, 1999.
Political
Relations:
Recent years have witnessed keen interest from Hong
Kong in India’s economic growth and its status as one
of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Expectations here are that with deepening of economic
reforms in India in the coming years, India-Hong Kong
relations should deepen and trade and economic ties should
expand. Donald Tsang, the then Chief Executive of Hong Kong
along with the Governor of Guangdong province led a business
delegation on a visit to India in October 2010.
A series of high-level visits from India to Hong Kong
in the last one year have helped boost overall ties between
India and Hong Kong. These include the visit by our Finance
Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, the then Gujarat Chief Minister
Smt. Anandiben Patel and Telangana Chief Minister Shri KCR
Rao. We have also received number of delegations from India
to participate in multilateral events which include a
delegation consisting of five senior-level High Court judges
from India to participate in the "Fifth Judicial Seminar on
Commercial Litigation" organized by The Court of Final
Appeal of Hong Kong.
In order to increase the level of economic engagement
between India and Hong Kong and provide boost to the
business, investment and people-to-people links, Chief
Executive (CE) of Hong Kong, CY Leung paid an official visit
to India from February 2-5, 2016 at the invitation of Chief
Minister of Maharashtra. It was the first official visit to
India of a Hong Kong Chief Executive. He led 40 strong
multi-sectoral business delegation, the largest one
accompanying Chief Executive amongst his recent official
visits. During his visit, CE called on Hon’ble Prime
Minister, Finance Minister and External Affairs Minister. He
also addressed the business events organised by Indian and
Hong Kong chambers of commerce.
In continuation of last year’s goodwill visit
of Indian Coast Guard Ship ICGS Sarang to Hong Kong in
August 2015, an Indian Coast Guard Ship ICGS Samrat had a
goodwill visit to Hong Kong SAR from October 29 - November
02, 2016. The Coast Guard officials had interactions with
Hong Kong Marine Police and Hong Kong Customs
officials.
Bilateral
Agreements:
Agreements
concluded with Hong Kong include:
-
Agreement
on Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgements (1968), [which
was re-notified by Government of India in July 2012 due
to a change in the nomenclature of Hong Kong courts
following handover of sovereignty to China in 1997],
-
Agreement
Constituted by Exchange of Letters Between the PRC and
India on matters related to the Consular Convention
(December 1991),
-
Air
Services Agreement (1996), and MoU on Air Services
Agreements pursuant to the Air Services Agreement
(February 2012),
-
Customs
Cooperation Agreement (1997),
-
Surrender
of Fugitive Offenders (1997), and
-
Agreement
on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters
(September 2009).
Following
MoUs have been signed between India and Hong Kong:
-
MoU
between Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and Reserve
bank of India (RBI) on Supervisory Cooperation and
Exchange of Information signed on July 17, 2014.
-
Agreement
on Transfer of Sentenced Persons was signed on January
20, 2015 and has since come into effect.
-
India
Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) Chairman visited
Hong Kong on 04 October 2016 and signed an MoU with Hong
Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) to strengthen the
economic partnership and increase bilateral commerce
between India and Hong Kong, especially for small and
medium-sized enterprises.
Commercial Relations:
Recent years have seen relations between India and
Hong Kong expand rapidly. Hong Kong companies also have been
increasingly looking at India as an investment destination.
Many Hong Kong companies have huge presence in India. This
includes China Light and Power (CLP), Li & Fung,
Jardines, Shangri La, Kerry Logistics and Johnson Electric
to name a few.
Hong Kong is host to a large number of Indian
professionals in banking, IT and shipping. Eleven public
sector banks and three private sector banks from India are
currently operating in Hong Kong. Numerous global financial
majors, investment institutions and fund managers operating
in India have their regional headquarters in Hong Kong. Hong
Kong is also a major sourcing centre for Indian companies.
It has emerged as a major re-exporter of items it imports
from India to Mainland China. The regional office of Air
India is located in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong occupied 16th position in FDI equity
inflows into India with cumulative FDI amount of US $ 1.976
billion (April 2000 to September 2016). Hong Kong is major
hub for exhibitions and conferences. Trade fairs in Hong
Kong are an important opportunity as they provide a platform
for the buyers and sellers across the globe to come together
and interact. Annually, more than 60 fairs are held in Hong
Kong. India also participates in many of these exhibitions
to promote its strengths, mainly through export promotion
councils and sectoral promotion boards.
Hong Kong Trade and Development Council (HKTDC) has
made India as its focus point this year for promoting
business and trade linkages between India and Hong Kong.
With the focus on SMEs, HKTDC conducted a Seminar on the
Latest Market Opportunities in India in September 2016, and
paid special focus on India during the World SME Expo held
in December 2016. They have conducted series of researches,
which may be useful and relevant for Hong Kong companies
planning to invest in India.
In November 2016, a business delegation from
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) led by its President
Dr. Naushad Forbes visited Hong Kong. This was a return
visit to that of the business delegation which had
accompanied Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung (CE) during
his visit to India in February this year.
Several other high-level visits to Hong Kong include
that of Secretary (Investment & Public Asset Management)
in September 2016 with focus on Foreign Institutional
Investors (FIIs) and that of high-level Gujarat delegation
in October 2016 to promote Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit
2017.
Bilateral
Trade:
India was Hong Kong’s
4th largest export market destination in
2015 (after China, US, Japan) and Hong Kong is India’s
3rd largest export market (after US, UAE) in FY 2015-16.
India-Hong Kong trade in 2015 was US$ 23.7 billion. During
2015, India continued to retain its position as the 7th
largest trading partner of Hong Kong. The total trade in
Jan-Oct 2016 has increased by 12.1% to 20.22 billion USD
this year as compared to last year, despite the decline in
Hong Kong’s global trade.
Indian exports to Hong Kong primarily include Pearls,
precious & semi-precious stones, Leather, Electrical
Machinery, Cotton, Fish & crustaceans, Machinery,
Articles of apparel, Organic chemicals, , Optical &
medical instruments and Plastics while Indian imports from
Hong Kong include Pearls, precious and semi-precious stones,
Electrical machinery, Machinery, Optical & medical
instruments, Clocks & watches, Plastic and articles
thereof, Special woven fabrics, Miscellaneous manufactured
articles, Organic Chemicals and paper.
India
- Hong Kong Trade: Table
[Amount
in US $ million]
(Source: Census and Statistics Department, Hong
Kong)
Cultural linkages:
The International Day of Yoga was celebrated in June
this year and was the biggest ever Yoga event to be held in
Hong Kong, as nearly 2,500 Hong Kongers gathered at the Sun
Yat Sen Memorial Park here to mark the occasion. Lau
Kong-Wah, Secretary for Home Affairs of HKSAR government was
the Guest of Honour.
Indian artists in Hong Kong participate every year in
the Asia Ethnic Cultural Festival that is held in Hong
Kong. A festival of Indian Art & Culture named
‘India By the Bay’ is organized every year in
Hong Kong in February in collaboration with the Asia Society
Hong Kong Center. The third edition of India by the Bay is
being planned in February 2017.
Apart from above, the Consulate conducts and supports
many other cultural events from time to time. Although India
does not have a Cultural Exchange Programme with Hong Kong,
a fairly large variety of cultural activities are held
through local cultural impresarios and
institutions.
Academic collaboration:
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the
Indian Council for Cultural relations (ICCR) and The Chinese
University of Hong Kong (CUHK) on “Establishment of
the ICCR visiting professorship of Indian studies” was
signed on September 04, 2015. The MOU is presently
functional, and an ICCR Chair has been established at CUHK.
The First Chair Shri UA Vinay Kumar is a distinguished
Professor from Department of Philosophy at the Goa
University.
Recent years have witnessed an increase in the number
of Indian students in Hong Kong universities. The trend is
likely to increase due to a host of factors including
competitive fee structure, high ratings among world
institutes etc.
Tourism and Air
links:
Hong Kong is a major tourist destination for Indians.
With more than half million Indian tourists visiting Hong
Kong every year, the Hong Kong- India tourism has been
steadily rising. The launch of e-TV
scheme for HKSAR passport holders on July
30, 2015 as part of the “Visit India Year” has
been a significant milestone in our quest to achieve greater
tourist flows to India.
Direct air
links between India and Hong Kong are through Air India, Jet
Airways and Cathay Pacific which connect 6 cities in India,
namely- New Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and
Kolkata. In all, there are 69 direct flights being operated
between India and Hong Kong every week. Both Hong Kong and
Indian authorities have expressed interest in increased air
connectivity and are in continuous touch in this
regard.
Indian
Community:
Hong Kong has for more than 150 years been home to a
large Indian community and its contribution to Hong
Kong’s emergence as a hub of global finance and trade
is well known. Due to their long presence, Indians have been
able to integrate themselves into the mainstream Hong Kong
society. The Indian community is equally proud of its dual
heritage and of their relations with both India and Hong
Kong. Members of the Indian community established well known
institutions in Hong Kong such as the Hong Kong University,
the Ruttonjee Hospital and the famous Star Ferry.
Increasingly, a large number of Indian professionals
are coming into Hong Kong, working in the service industry,
banking and finance, information technology, shipping, etc.
The Indian community in Hong Kong is estimated to be more
than 45,000 and approximately half of them hold Indian
passports. Sindhis, Gujaratis and Punjabis (Sikh) form the
largest component of the community.
So far, four Hong Kong based persons of Indian origin
have been awarded the Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Award: Dr.
Hari Harilela (2003), Mr. M. Arunachalam (2005), Mr Rusy M
Shroff (2006) and Mr. Harindarpal Singh Banga
(2011).
India-Macau Bilateral Relations
The mainstay of Macau’s economy is tourism and
gambling industry. Macau has become a major tourist
destination for Indians (India is amongst the top ten source
of tourism to Macau) and the number of Indians who visited
Macau last year was approx. 1,67,000. There is a small
Indian community in Macau, majority of who are of Goan
origin. These include professionals, people in Government
Departments and those working in hotels and restaurants and
in the gaming industry.
India has signed two bilateral agreements with Macau.
These are the Air Services Agreement signed in February 1998
and the Agreement for the Exchange of Information with
Respect to Taxes signed in January 2012.
The International Day of Yoga was celebrated in June
this year in Macau Banyan Tree to mark the occasion. Macau
Yoga institutes enthusiastically participated in the event.
Consulate’s participation in Macao
International Trade & Investment
Fair: Consulate General of India Hong Kong
participated in the 21st edition of Macao International
Trade & Investment Fair (MIF) at the Venetian Macao from
20th to 22nd October 2016. The fair was organized by Macao
Trade and Investment Promotion Institute along with 15
Economic and Commercial authorities as well as trade
associations from Macau, Hong Kong and Mainland China.
Bilateral trade with Macau is growing. In 2015, the
total trade was worth US$ 17.69 million, wherein
India’s exports to Macau were valued at US$ 13.19
million and Macau’s exports to India were valued at
US$ 4.52 million. Major products of export from India are
sheath contraceptives, articles of apparel of leather or
composition of leather, fish heads, black tea and
medicaments.
India -
Macau Trade:
Table
[Amount in US $ million]
(Source: Census and Statistics Department, Macau)
Useful Resources:
December
2016
