German companies plan to not only invest more in India but also create more jobs despite problems of infrastructure, corruption and the need to tame the bureaucracy.

“In the minds of German investors, these three top concerns (infrastructure, corruption and taming bureaucracy) dwarf all others including FDI liberalisation, tax reforms, tariff and non-tariff trading barriers, regulatory issues, inflation and the quality of the education system,” a new survey of conducted among 175 German companies in India shows.

The survey shows that about 44 per cent of the manager surveyed indicated plans to “strongly increase their investment activity” over the next three years, while 23 per cent plan to moderately increase investments further. The exact quantum of funds to be invested was not immediately available.

The survey conducted by the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce was released ahead of the visit of German Chancellor, Ms Angela Merkel, to India scheduled to begin early next week.

“German companies are convinced about the India story. They feel it will continue. A majority feel that Indian growth story will match or even exceed the growth registered in China. Implementation of projects has been faster than expected, profitability comes earlier and are higher than what was originally planned,” the Chambers, Director General, Mr Bernhard Steinruecke, said.

The survey states that while scams and cronyism ranging from Commonwealth Games to 2G telecom licences may have damaged India's international image, investor sentiments have hardly been dented. It shows that India's consistently strong economic growth translates into a significant boost to the top line and bottom line of Germany companies operating here.

The survey shows that about 55 per cent companies reported revenue increases of more than 20 per cent during 2010-11, while for over a third of all companies profits shot up by more than 20 per cent during the same period.

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