From silk and salt to IT training bases

Chengdu’s historic and economic links to India has stood the test of time

Chengdu and India have been linked together for more than two thousand years, when a 2,000-kilometer southern route of the Silk Road, the ancient network of trade routes connecting regions of Asia and Europe, transported silk, salt and tea from the capital of Sichuan province to the South Asian country.

From India came jewelry, music, medical technologies that eventually spread across China through Chengdu.

That connection with the provincial capital has lived on since then. In 2006, the head of the Bangalore government led a delegation to Chengdu and signed an agreement to establish a cooperative relationship. In 2013, the two became sister cities.

On July 29 of this year, a media delegation from Chengdu visited Bangalore.

Bangalore, the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka, is the fourth-largest city in India. Regarded as “India’s Silicon Valley”, it is also the fifth-largest information technology center in the world. The Indian IT giant Infosys and a number of large Indian software companies are headquartered in Bangalore.

In 2012, Chengdu was awarded the first “famous software city” in western China by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Total revenue from Chengdu’s software and information service industries exceeded 100 billion yuan ($16.67 billion) last year, which accounted for more than 5 percent of the national total for the industry.

The two cities’ strengths in the IT industry has allowed the two to cooperate on trade, technology and cultural exchanges.

Chengdu is the major destination for Indian businesspeople and students in China, with the Indians constituting the fifth-largest expats community in the city.

According to Chengdu’s official data, trade between Chengdu and India totaled 5.94 billion yuan last year, 308 million yuan of which came via imports from India, a growth of 17.7 percent year-on-year.

Chengdu’s main export commodities to India are textiles and garments, mechanical equipment and electric appliances and electronic products. Chengdu’s mainly imports iron ore, textile and cotton from India.

By December 2014, five Indian enterprises invested $2.51 million in Chengdu. One of India’s top 10 IT companies, 3i, has a presence in Chengdu and the largest IT training agency in Asia, India’s NIIT, has cooperative training agreements with Sichuan University and Chengdu University of Information Technology.

Chengdu is one of China’s four largest electronic and IT industry bases. About two-thirds of the world’s iPads are manufactured in Chengdu and 50 percent of the world’s laptop chips are tested and packaged in Chengdu.

The Sichuan provincial capital has more than 500 IT enterprises and the city’s overall production value for the IT industry is expected to reach 350 billion yuan this year.

Chengdu’s gross domestic product exceeded 1 trillion yuan last year.

Milestones in exchanges

October 2013

Chengdu and Bangalore sign a sister-city agreement with then Premier Li Keqiang and then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in attendance.

November 2013

 A Chengdu government delegation visits Bangalore and holds a promotional activity publicizing Chengdu’s tourism and business opportunities.

May 2014

A series of activities to celebrate China-India Friendly Exchange Year are held in Chengdu to publicize India’s culture, food and tourism.

 July 2014

 A youth dancing troupe from Bangalore performs in Chengdu and participates in cultural exchange activities at local art schools.

September 2014

 More than 30 Chengdu enterprises hold a business promotion fair in Bangalore, where 218 cooperation intention agreements are signed and 100 million yuan in goods and services are traded.

December 2014

The China (Chengdu)-India Business Forum is held in Chengdu, attracting more than 50 business representatives from Chengdu and India.

June 2015

The first China (Chengdu)-India International Yoga Festival is held in Chengdu. Ashok Kantha, India’s ambassador to China, says India is considering building a general consulate in Chengdu this year.