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German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel who witnessed the fusion of German engineering and Indian IT at the Bosch facility in Bengaluru on Tuesday said that India is an important partner for Germany to renew its products and services and to be on the vanguard of technology. “India has competence in IT and we should merge it with our competence in Industry 4.0 (Internet of Things) to cooperate in many areas beyond this.”
Stating that Germany is one of India’s most important trading partner, she said there are 170 German companies in Bengaluru alone and over 1,600 German companies that are actively engaged in India. “India is a huge market for us with so many of our top businesses represented here underscoring our intent to further economic and industrial relations with India. We are interested to be treated equally with Indian businesses and hope that a Free Trade Agreement with EU and India can be resumed. FTA will pave the way for German companies to come to India and the reverse is also true.”
Pointing out that 12,000 Indian students are enrolled in German educational institutions, Merkel said Germany has established new immigration rules to make it easier for Indians to get jobs in Germany. “While India needs highly skilled jobs, Germany needs highly skilled labour.”
Significant visitIt is the first visit of a German Chancellor to India since 2001 and hence it is very significant, said Gerd Hoefner, MD and CEO, Siemens Technology and Services Pvt Ltd, who has lived in Bengaluru for 13 years. However, Indian business leaders who attended the Indo-German Summit had mixed views about the outcome of the Modi–Merkel interaction. Hirren Turakhia, Vice-President and head of HCL Technologies, Europe, said there is an expectation mismatch between Merkel and Modi. “This is the third session I am attending with the two leaders. While India is expecting a lot of FDI and investment; Germany is more tuned to technology transfers and investments of time and knowledge than actual cash unlike Japan that will invest heavily.”
Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Manipal Global Education, said “While Merkel’s speech was all about the present, Modi’s speech was all about the future.”
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