Additionally, top Indian corporations such as Essar and Tata Group are making big-ticket investments in projects in Vietnam, the Indian Express quoted the study as saying.

According to the study, key sectors where Indian exports can make headway in the Vietnamese market include IT and IT training, agro and food processing, railways, energy and alternate energy, power transmission and generation.

In 2004, India extended a credit line of US$27 million to Vietnam. Last year, India officially announced another line of credit worth US$45 million for Nam Chien Hydroelectric power project.

Bilateral trade has been growing rapidly from US$72 million in 1995 to over US$1 billion in 2006, with an average growth rate of 20 per cent per annum.

The Tata Group and Essar signed MoUs with the Vietnamese government last year to set up steel facilities worth more than US$4 billion, according to the Indian paper.