莫迪邀请中国顶级CEO投资印度

The Indian Prime minister unleashed a charm-offensive on top Chinese CEOs in a bid to attract much needed infrastructure investments to India.

Narendra Modi had a candid roundtable chat with 22 top Chinese CEOs including Jack Ma of e-commerce giant Alibaba and Lin Bin, President of phone maker Xiaomi - which has already made inroads into India.

A confident Modi says his new government is "the most business friendly" regime in recent decades in India.

"You will already be knowing the direction of my government and the steps we are taking. We have committed ourselves to creating and improving the business environment. I can assure you that once you decide to be in India we are confident to make you more and more comfortable."

Modi's top priority in China is to find ways to reduce India's 48 billion US dollar trade deficit with its neighbor. India's massive trade gap with China accounts for almost one third of its overall deficit.

Modi's aggressive "Made in India" campaign aims to attract Chinese manufacturers struggling with rising labor costs at home to shift production to India to save money.

Chinese CEOs are already warming to this message.

After Modi's speech, more than 20 business agreements worth over 22 billion US dollars were exchanged between Chinese and Indian companies.

These agreements cover a wide range of sectors from telecoms, steel, solar energy, and even a film-industry tie-up with Bollywood.

Modi also met with over 5000 Indians expats, living across China.

One of Modi's final stops in Shanghai included the inauguration of a center for Gandhian studies at prestigious Fudan University.

There, he re-iterated the message of non-violence and the need for the two Asian giants to work in tandem to achieve regional stability.

"We have complimented each other in the past. We can compliment in the present and future too. As two major economies in Asia, the harmonious partnership between India and China is essential for the economic development and political stability of the continent."

Shanghai is the last stop of Modi's three day tour of China.

With his business-oriented policies and positive personal rapport with the Chinese President - evident when Xi Jinping decided to host Modi in his hometown - the Indian prime minister's visit is expected to set a new course for the relationship between Asia's two largest economies.

For CRI, I'm Poornima Weerasekara.