Hsinchu Science Park Bureau (HSPB) is actively pushing forward the Taiwan government's New Southbound Policy, endeavoring to engage efforts across the industry, government, academics and research institutes as well as its sister industrial parks in India in an attempt to help HSP-based companies tap into the India market. As part of such efforts, HSPB recently conducted a panel discussion for a close examination and exchange of views on how Taiwan businesses can expand into India. Experts taking part in the event highlighted that the government should strengthen efforts toward promoting Taiwan's image to give Taiwan businesses a leg-up.

India is the world's third biggest solar power market and its solar industry has been growing at a tremendous pace. It has already achieved the target of 20GW it had set for 2022, and it has now set to achieve 100GW in the next four years. India is also home to the world's largest solar park: the 2000MW Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka covers a total area of 13,000 acres.

The government of India launched an ambitious plan to transition to an all-electric vehicular (EV) fleet by 2030. This plan has revved up the Indian automotive industry, in line with the global trends, marking the end of internal combustion engines (ICE). It is evident from the recently concluded India Auto Expo, where most leading domestic and international automakers displayed electric vehicles - bus, cars, motorcycles, and scooters - that the transition to EV has taken off in India.

India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA) held its annual event IESA Vision Summit at the Leela Palace in India's high-tech center Bengaluru at the end of February. Taking place at the Leela Palace - one of India's best hotels featuring Indo-Islamic architectural grandeur, the event gave participants a striking impression of Indian businesses' real determination to take action in response mainly to the rise of China's semiconductor industry.

With steady market growth and increasing economies of scale, India is an important alternative to China for countries that seek balanced industrial developments and try to avoid overdependence on the China market. Businesses from Taiwan and other countries have been keen to expand into India. Many world-leading companies such as Microsoft, Samsung, Qualcomm and MediaTek have focused only on setting up R&D bases in India, while Amazon is willing to make huge investments targeting rising e-commerce opportunities in India. However, developments with respect to manufacturing or software-hardware integration seem to be making little progress. As for the partnership between Taiwan and India, will it grow deeper or continue to run idle beyond 2018?

Only 2.9% of the Indian population pay income tax, so the Indian government has to rely on all kinds of indirect taxes to fund public services. However, officials are well aware of the impact and implication indirect taxes have on the efficiency of business operation. India's nationwide uniform tax rate going into effect in 2016 actually spurred economic growth. With the corporate tax rate reduced from 30% to 25%, the Indian market is enjoying widespread prosperity. The number of large-scale shopping malls is on the rise, which shows the vibrant growth Indian businesses are now experiencing in contrast to the past.

India is eager to duplicate the China experience and it knows well the role Taiwan makers have been playing behind the success of its neighbor. Despite its economic challenges, India prides itself in the fact it is a democratic country and believes its market has taken off. It thinks Taiwan businesses are reluctant to foray into the India market due mainly to their shortsightedness. But for Taiwan firms, they would enter the India market mostly at the request of OEM customers, as their priority is given to clients from China and other countries, over a lower-tier India market where product structures are complicated and customers are too price-sensitive.

For a professional media outlet dedicated to studying IT industry developments, the most important responsibility is to present accurate observations at crucial moments. India will enter its fiscal 2018 on April 1, and the country, besides adjusting budgets to reflect its national policies, will enforce new tariff measures such as hiking import duties on handsets, TVs and related key parts and components. Is this a move designed by the India government to address the ever-expanding deficit in trade with China or to drive the localization of related industries? India's home-bred handset players Micromax, Lava, Kabornn and Intex have seen their domestic market shares fall under 3% for the moment although they were top-ranked ones during my trip to India two and a half years ago. Will the tariff protection alone be able to help revive India makers?

Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) has signed a pact with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) to jointly carry out research projects and promote dual-degree programs, in a bid to push for more Indian science and engineering students to study and work in Taiwan to strengthen Taiwan's tech research momentum.