After a more than seven-year pause in top-level contact, Ukraine and India had a lot of catching up to do.
So when President Viktor Yanukovych went to India in December on a four-day state visit to commemorate 20 years of diplomatic relations with India – the first visit by a Ukrainian head of state since Leonid Kuchma made the trip in October 2002 – there was a lot on the agenda. The visit came more than seven years after then-Indian President Abdul Kalam came to Kyiv in June 2005 and met with then-President Viktor Yushchenko.
Yanukovych’s Dec. 9-12 visit produced five bilateral agreements – from nuclear safety to legal assistance. Indian businesspeople working in Ukraine followed the trip with great interest, calling Yanukovych’s trip a historic visit.
One of them was Mayank Jain, an Indian businessman who has invested in Ukraine. “Both sides, Ukraine and India, were waiting for this visit for a long time,” Jain says. “This was sort of getting approval from the top, because in past few years Ukraine has been shifting either pro-Europe or pro-Russia, leaving Asia (behind).”
Like many Indian companies in Ukraine, Jain’s Vaishali Group is involved in the pharmaceutical business. Indian medicine is the leader in Ukraine in terms of volume and second in terms of value, after Germany.
“More than a half of export from India to Ukraine is pharmaceutics. This is the strongest part of our business,” says Ashok Kumar, member of the Ukrainian-Indian Business Club.
In India, what started as a government program to address domestic medical needs, gradually transformed the nation into one of the world’s largest exporters of pharmaceuticals – prompting people to label India “the pharmacy of the world.”
However, recently Indian pharmaceutical companies in Ukraine began experiencing pressure from new regulations that affect most Indian companies, according to Jain.
“What has been (happening) the past few years is because Indian pharmaceuticals are challenging (to competitors), there was a lot of lobbying against Indian medicines, because we sell cheap medicines,” he says. Indian pharmaceuticals are cheaper because of lower production costs.
Jain said that, while Yanukovych’s visit seemed like a perfect time to address the issue, he was disappointed by the formal nature of the meetings. He said businesspeople did not have the opportunity for frank discussions with authorities.
“I wish the president had a chance to see the real picture from the real business community and not only (from) the bureaucrats,” he says. “In fact, the opportunity was not given to business for a direct dialogue with president.”
Ashok Kumar from the Ukrainian-Indian Business Club also attended the meetings. He said the gatherings helped to raise the awareness of Indian investors about Ukraine’s investment opportunities.
“The Ukrainian delegation demonstrated their business and offered a lot of innovational projects, like the Antonov factory,” says Kumar. “It’s unclear how much investment will come, but for sure there is a much higher expectation among the business community.”
Investment, indeed, has been the weakest part of bilateral relations. Trade – which reached $3 billion last year – is also lopsided in Ukraine’s favor, with the nation exporting far more to India than it imports.
Personal connections, however, are strong – and many of them were forged during the Soviet Union, when India prided itself on its policy of non-alignment during the Cold War.
Ukraine’s relatively inexpensive and quality education, especially medical, remains a powerful incentive for young Indians to move far from home. As a result, most of the 4,500 Indians in Ukraine are students.
To serve the community, a number of places with Indian cuisine have sprung up in Kyiv. Located in the middle of Khreshchatyk Street, behind Zara store, Himalaya restaurant offers authentic Indian food and more.
Incense sticks, traditional Indian music and hand-carved furniture imported from India all add up to an atmosphere of dining somewhere in New Delhi rather than in Kyiv.
With those offerings, Himalaya restaurant has earned many loyal customers. “We have customers coming to us for the last 10, 12 years regularly,” says Paresh Tripathi, owner of Himalaya restaurant. “It was never required from us to have a very big advertisement or big banner, our clientele is very specific, they always find us.”
Although the expat community represents the restaurant’s main clients, Ukrainians with a taste for Indian food have gradually overtaken the foreigners as customers.
Having run Himalaya restaurant for the last 15 years, Tripathi inevitably fell in love with the city. “Whenever I go to India, I feel like I’m coming home, the same feeling I’m having when I come back to Ukraine,” he said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Maryna Irkliyenko can be reached at [email protected].
