Malaysian companies, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), in looking at potential investments in India, have been urged to consider non-traditional sectors, including halal food manufacturing.

The co-chairman of the ASEAN-India Business Council (AIBC) Datuk Ramesh Kodammal said with nearly 18 percent of India's 1.27 billion population being Muslims, it could be the next growth area for Malaysian SMEs.

He said AIBC and its counterpart in India are prepared to assist Malaysian manufacturers in getting local business partners after the success achieved in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

"Our SMEs are doing well in these countries and they can extend their experience to doing business here, with the open door policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government," Ramesh added.

The Malaysian businessman who has been supplying textiles to major trading companies at home and within ASEAN, said at present, Malaysian companies were more into textile trading, Information Technology (IT) and service oriented businesses in India.

He highlighted that it was also time for SMEs to explore beyond the first-tier Indian cities.

"Most of our companies mainly focus their business in major capitals like Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi. We need to further explore the potential of the second and third-tier Indian cities now.

"With the Indian economy growing at 7.0 to 7.5 percent annually, Indians in general are having better purchasing power," said Ramesh, when met on the sidelines of the 8th Delhi Dialogue here.

He pointed out that for the last five years, trade between Malaysia and India had grown at a steady pace.

Malaysia exported around US$7 billion worth of goods and services in 2015, compared with imports worth about US$296 million.

Ramesh was of the view that Malaysian SMEs had the all experience and expertise required in the manufacturing and hospitality sectors, and would most likely not face any difficulty in getting the right local partners to expand their businesses to India.

"What is lacking for SMEs not only in Malaysia, but also within ASEAN, is the lack of updated information and knowledge on the open door policy announced by Modi, since he came to power in 2014," he said.

Meanwhile, Ramesh, who was a speaker at the business session of the three-day Delhi Dialogue which ended on Friday, called for better connectivity between business communities and more people-to-people contacts between ASEAN and India.

He also proposed that the Indian government organise trade fairs similar the one in Naning, China, which provided a platform for all major Chinese manufacturers to meet directly their trading partners.