Identifying education as a key driver to improve links with Wales, Indian high commissioner Nalin Surie invited Welsh training institutions to consider investment opportunities arising from development policies in India.
Wales was already home to many Indian students and trade and investment flows could both be supported by enhanced co-operation in education, Surie told a meeting of the Cardiff Business Club on Monday.
He said, "The National Skill Development Corporation in India is mandated to train a skilled workforce of 150 million by 2022 through skill development to graduation."
"We are in the process of setting up 1,500 industrial training centres and 5,000 skill development centres to provide skill opportunities at the doorstep for our youth.
Welsh training institutions could look at the investment opportunities arising from development policies in India," Surie added.
India, he said, was keen to develop economic and strategic partnerships in Wales that can help achieve our objective of growth with equity,
according to reports from Cardiff.
The Indian economy, he said, would sustain at least a 9 per cent growth rate over the next two or three decades.
Surie said, "We are a country where those under 35 account for almost 66 per cent of the population. They are increasingly going to be the major driving force of the economy and of society. Hence, our focus is on further
development of education at school, university and technical levels."
He also stressed that India was very much opened for business in terms of direct foreign investment, which offered competitive returns on
investment.
"We hear complaints about hassles that face foreign investors. Our effort is to eliminate these. Nevertheless we remain an extremely attractive market that will continue to grow at a rapid pace in the decades ahead," he added.
The Indian government, he said would like British companies to be part of this growth and share the benefits that derive from it.
This, he said, was particularly important at a time of economic difficulty in the UK.
"India offers to the UK economy unparalleled opportunities that can not only help revive manufacturing and employment in the UK, but also provide a fresh impetus to the City of London," he said.
Surie noted that Wales had a long trading history with India.
The sectors in which Wales and India could complement each other were in metals, engineering chemicals, IT, electronics pharmaceuticals, health care and telecommunications.
"India offers special opportunities to Wales in long term investment and joint venture partnerships in the SME sectors. Here are many opportunities for joint venture collaborations byway of technology transfer, product development and moving up the global value chain," he added.