India, China sign deals worth more than USD 22 billion

India and China have signed 21 deals worth more than $22 billion, with another five exchange earlier, in areas including renewable energy, ports, financing and industrial parks.

Namgya C. Khampa, of the Indian Embassy in Beijing, made the remarks at the end of a three-day visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which he sought to boost economic ties and quell anxiety over a border dispute between the neighbours.

"The agreements have a bilateral commercial engagement in sectors like renewable energy, industrial parks, power, steel, logistics finance and media and entertainment," Khampa said.

Despite his hardline reputation, Modi has moved to engage with Beijing since his election last year, and he was looking for an economic boost from the trip, seeking to deliver on election promises for foreign investment.

"Let us work together in mutual interests," Modi told executives from 200 Chinese and Indian companies at the signing ceremony. "Now India is ready for business."

China is India's biggest trading partner with two-way commerce totalling $71 billion in 2014. But India's trade deficit with China has soared from just $1 billion in 2001-02 to more than $38 billion last year.

China is interested in more opportunities in India's $2 trillion economy.

During a visit to India last year by Chinese President Xi Jinping, China announced $20 billion in investments over five years, including setting up two industrial parks.

Since then, progress has been slow, in part because of the difficulties Modi has had in getting political approval for easier land acquisition laws.

Earlier during Modi's visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed him in Xian, the capital of his ancestral home province Shaanxi, in what his host said was an unprecedented gesture.

But relations between the world's two most populous nations are soured by a long-running border dispute that saw them fight a brief war in 1962. Modi on Friday told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that Beijing needs to reconsider its approach to relations.