Romania is wooing Indian investors to invest in areas like digitalisation of the agriculture sector, irrigation infrastructure, drainage and soil erosion, mechanisation and the extensive use of modern technology, collecting, storage systems and processing of agricultural products and the organic farming segment. Investors will get various fiscal incentives to set up their operations in the country.

Officials from Romania, at a meeting in the city on Friday, said that the country is a good gateway for Indian goods to access various markets in Europe.

Strategic benefits

Romania is at the crossroads of three large markets – Europe, CIS and the Middle East. It is a bridge between the East and the West for 500 million consumers' market. It owns one third of the Danube River, and stands as the most significant gateway to the Black Sea through Constanta Port. This is the largest and deepest port (25 metres) at the Black Sea with a 6-day time saving competitive advantage against the biggest European port, Rotterdam, as concerns Asian goods transportation by sea, according to a presentation made by Romanian officials on Business Opportunities in Romania presented at the Hindustan Chamber of Commerce.

Daniela Mariana Seznov Tane, Ambassador of Romania, said that the country is one of the most competitive labour forces in the EU. Investors that set up manufacturing locations or offices in an industrial, scientific or technological park benefit from exemption on land, building and urban planning tax and exemption on taxes charged for changing land destination.

The Romanian tax System is at 35 per cent and Social Security is the key fact for top tech-oriented industries in Romania. Continental, Daimler, Ford, Siemens and Deutsche Bank are some of the major organisations that have invested in Romania, she said.

Romania's exports to India stood at $176.39 million in 2020 and $171.8 million in 2021 while its imports aggregated $357.32 million in 2020 and $404.33 million in 2021. During the period between December 1990 and December 2019, a total of 563 Indian companies invested in Romania. This was just 0.24 per cent of the total number of companies in the country. The subscribed share capital in companies with Indian interest was $9.7 million.