Union Minister Anupriya Patel on Tuesday invited companies from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region to invest in India, particularly in the 13 sectors that are covered under the production linked incentive scheme.

The Minister of State for Commerce and Industry said that with a combined economy of about $5.8 trillion, there is a significant potential for enhancing trade and investment partnerships between India and ASEAN. The government has announced the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme worth $26 billion for 13 different sectors for enhancing India's manufacturing capabilities and exports.

The sectors include Advance Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery, Electronic/Technology Products, Pharmaceuticals, Telecom and Networking Products, food items, speciality steel and white goods.

"I take this opportunity today to invite the companies from the ASEAN region to invest in India and benefit from the very large market that we have here, especially in the 13 sectors, which are covered under the PLI scheme," Patel said at EEPC India -India ASEAN Engineering Partnership Summit.

On exports, the minister said as one of the largest destinations of Indian outbound shipments, ASEAN will be an important region for India, with an export target of $46 billion, in meeting the global export goal of $400 billion during the current fiscal.

The government has set an export target of $400 billion for this fiscal and $1 trillion by 2027-28. "ASEAN with over 15 per cent share in India's global engineering shipments, is likely to be a key region of focus," she added.

Riva Ganguly Das, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, said:"An early review of the free trade pact in goods between India and ASEAN is key to realise the full potential of this pact. The ASEAN-India trade in goods agreement was signed on August 13, 2009 and entered into force on January 1, 2010."

ASEAN countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.