Indo-Thai trade to touch $1 bn in 2011

Bangalore: The bilateral trade between Thailand and India would touch $1 billion in 2011, said Chanchai Charanvatnakit, Thai Council general in India.Last year the bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $ 850 million with a majority of transactions coming from the sectors like pharmaceutical, plastic, construction materials and textiles. He said both the countries are working to come out with a full-fledged free trade agreement (FTA), which is expected to be signed by this year. Once the full-fledged FTA is in place, he said, the trade transaction between the two countries will increase dramatically

The agriculture and real estate industry would emerge as major sectors in the future in bilateral trade between India and Thailand. Notably a Thai-based real estate major Pruksa Global has started making huge investments in India, he added.

Charanvatnakit was in Bangalore to inaugurate a residential project promoted by Pruksa Global, which is committed to invest around $ 300 million in various real estate projects in the first phase in India. The Bangalore project christened Pruksa Silvana is the first real estate project for Thai company in India. The company will also expand its real estate projects in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad soon.

Listed in Thai stock exchange, Pruksa is one of the top real estate firms in Asia and India is the first country for the company to invest outside Thailand due to high potential for residential projects in India, he added.

The company has Asia’s largest precast factory, where the different structures of house are manufactured through precast technology. These readymade structures are used to construct a house. Through this technology, low rise building could be built in 45-60 days and villas within 180 days.

Mohan, assistant vice-president of Pruksa Global, said “Pruksa is the only company having