"Mauritius is all set to become a duty-free island within the next one year. This, coupled with attractive incentives for entrepreneurs, will make it one of the most sought after destinations for Indian businessmen," Mauritian High Commmissioner in India U C Dwarka Canabady said.
Interacting with businessmen at a session organised by the Indo-African Society in New Delhi, Canabady said her country "abounded in investment opportunities for Indian businessmen," who could also use it as a "gateway to the wide and untapped African market."
Highlighting Information and Communications Technology, tourism, manufacturing and entertainment as the major sectors that could be tapped by Indian businessmen, she said her country would provide unique incentives in each sector to attract maximum investment.
"While in the ICT sector, we offer tax holidays up to the year 2008, for manufacturing industries, we provide land and other infrastructure at concessional rates, besides an attractive corporate tax of 15 per cent," Canabady said.
"Mauritius' other attractions are its political stability, strategic location, easy access to African and Asian markets, lowest tax rates in the region and facility of 100 per cent repatriation of profits for entrepreneurs," she said.
Identifying tourism as one of Mauritius' promising industries for the future, Canabady said the country expected an annual tourist arrival of three million within the next five years.
"Our visa procedures have been relaxed recently, benefiting not only tourists but also entrepreneurs who wish to explore business avenues in Mauritius. With our visa-on-arrival facility, Indian businessmen can stay in the country for up to 15 days," she said.
"The Integrated Resources Scheme recently introduced by Mauritius aims to attract non-citizens to acquire villas in resorts of international standards," she said adding residency status would be granted to the owner as well as the spouse.
The country also plans to market itself as a 'conference destination' and a 'headquarter destination,' she said. As part of this, Mauritius will host conferences of international level and encourage corporates to set up headquarters in the island-nation.
"We hope the companies targeting the African and Asian markets would select Mauritius as a destination to headquarter their business units," she said.