Indian business owners have expressed their enthusiasm that the India Expo 2019 will pave way for enhanced business opportunities in Maldives.
An initiative of SME Entrepreneurs Federation of Maldives (SEFM), India Expo 2019 was held from 15 – 17 October at Dharubaaruge where several Indian business owners participated, some of whom import a variety of popular and quality products to the Maldives market.
One of the participants told RaajjeMV that their biggest purpose of joining the expo was to introduce their latest products to the Maldives market.
“The major agenda of participating in this exhibition is to launch this new range of “Lloyd” and “Standard”. Both these products are new to the market. Although as a company we have been exporting for the last 15 years but this a new category for the market. We are targeting both retail as well as project segment share. Because this goes into households as well as the resort market which is very big in Maldives. The feedbacks so far have been very positive. We want to be among the top three AC suppliers in Maldives and we are very confident that within a very short span of time we’ll be able to achieve that. The product is good, the pricing is competitive and our partner is one of our strongest partners”Official from Havells India Limited
“Island Group”, who has been promoting Maldives in India for the past 22 years, revealed their belief that they have been of generous help in increasing Indian tourist arrivals in Maldives. As such, the company has hosted several events for Indian nationals across local resorts in the Maldives such as birthday and anniversary celebrations. Aman Bhatia, a company official expressed hope that the event successfully provided a platform for them to keep expanding opportunities for Indians to explore Maldives.
“The numbers from India has definitely increased and it is huge. In fact, we have got an increment of about 52 percent from what our older days were when we started selling Maldives but now there are a lot of flights coming in and there is a huge increase in the business and of course in 2020 to have 10-15 percent increment coming into Maldives from India. Besides that, Maldives was earlier only known to be for tourists coming in, but now the concept has changed from Indian mindset, it has become a weekend destination. Maldives has also become Indian-friendly, like the food and the concept of different kinds of experiences.”Aman Bhatia, official from Island Group
Bhatia added that the company is working to target guesthouses to Indians to promote the “pure, Maldivian experience”.
“We want to get every kind of Indian coming here, people who can afford and change the mentality and perception that Maldives is an expensive destination. We’re also looking at now targeting guesthouses, so the people who basically can’t afford the high-end resorts or seaplane transfers, we can promote guesthouses for the pure Maldivian experience"Official from Island Group
The expo revolved around developing small to medium businesses in the country and provide a platform through which Maldivian business owners may make contracts with Indian investors.
The event was sponsored by OneOnline and RaajjeTV as media partners, and State Bank of India, Corporate Maldives, Maldives Insider, Shady Cabin Rentals, Maldives Business Review, as well as Absolute Security and Advance Protection.
