India's booming middle class, which is creating changes in Indians' lifestyles and consuming habits, offers huge trade opportunities for Taiwanese manufacturers, a Taiwanese official said Tuesday in the capital of the world's second-largest country by population. The booming middle class, which also creates different demands for consumer products, a growing number of people in the habit of dining out, and expanding demand for smartphones and flat-panel TVs are currently three common phenomena in India -- a nation undergoing transformation from an agrarian to an industrial and commercial society, said Taiwan's Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Hwang Jung-chiou. 'These phenomena are also creating trade opportunities for Taiwanese manufacturers, ' said Hwang, who arrived in New Delhi Tuesday at the head of a Taiwanese trade promotion delegation. Meanwhile, he said, the Indian government's attitude toward Taiwan has become increasingly positive in the wake of improved cross-Taiwan Strait relations. 'Closer cross-strait relations are contributing to facilitating Taiwanese companies' efforts to cut deeper into the Indian market, ' Hwang said. Responding to the question of whether Taiwan will seek to forge a free trade agreement (FTA) with India now that it has concluded an economic cooperation framework agreement with China, Hwang said India is a very important market and Taiwan will not forsake the opportunity of signing an FTA will that country. Nevertheless, he went on, Taiwan can only prepare for the signing of an FTA with India and considers it to be a long shot at the present time. 'For Taiwan, the most important thing at the moment is to find out whether it is ready to fully open its market, ' the vice economic minister said. Hwang and his delegation were scheduled to depart later in the day for India's southern coastal city of Chennai, where they will attend the opening of the 2010 Taiwan Industrial Exhibition Wednesday. The exhibition is being organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council. The group will then head for Nellore County in the state of Andhra Pradesh the following day to witness a groundbreaking ceremony for the development of a Formosa Industrial Zone there. 