Germans keen on investing in India

New Delhi, Aug 31: With a total investment of 303 million dollars during the financial year 2005-06, as compared to an investment of 145 million dollars in the year 2004-05, Germany is on a fast track to India, says Ajay Singha, Deputy Director General, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC).

The Indo-German bilateral trade has also increased in the year 2005. It increased by 21.6 per cent and stands at 7.6 billion EURo (9.1 billion dollars). Indian exports to Germany increased by 14 per cent to reach 3.4 billion EURo, whereas German exports to India grew an impressive 27.7 per cent reaching 4.2 billion EURo, Mr Singh said.

The trade balance between the two countries recorded 805 million EURo in Germany's favour.

And the trend continues this year as well with the half-yearly bilateral trade for the year 2006 standing at 4.97 billion euro (an increase of 30.8 per cent) over the previous year, he added.

''There has been a recent upsurge of German companies visiting India as the Germans are keen on investing and partnering with their Indian counterparts for more fruitful economic relations'', the IGCC Director General said.

In the past couple of years, the German companies have reaffirmed their faith in the Indian market and are investing money in setting up their manufacturing base, enhancing their presence and opening new ventures in India.

The ongoing visit of the German Minister of Economics and Technology, Michael Glos to Delhi and Mumbai is the latest step in this direction. The Minister is accompanied by a number of Large and medium sized German companies who have specific and firm plans for India.

DYWIDAG, a German company is bidding for the second phase of Delhi Metro for a multi-lateral consortium to build the sophisticated and high quality tunneling. The German company has successfully completed the phase I of the project almost nine months in advance. CLASS, another German company is investing in Punjab for the production of combined harvesters, according to its Deputy Chairman, Cathrina Claas.

While Mr Norbert Bargmann, CEO, Munich Fairs is visiting India for the ongoing expansion of its first-rate portfolio of fairs and exhibitions in India. The Munich Trade Fairs International Group (MMI) is one of the worlds leading organizers of trade fairs.

In India, MMI has been active for the past few years. It's been organising some important fairs like COMPONEX/ELECTRONICINDIA, BAUCON INDIA and ANALYTICA-ANACON. They are soon launching another important fair, "TEXMAC INDIA 2007", first International Textile Machinery Exhibition from January 17-20, 2007 at Pragati Maidan, to be followed by a few more in the coming years.

Mr Singha said the reason to cheer is that the Indo-German companies in India have fared very well. Infact, some of them have out-performed their German parent companies. There are about 24 Indo-German companies listed in the Indian stock market. The share price performance of these companies has recorded a remarkable performance. This is a reflection of the fact that the Indo-German collaboration companies have integrated well in the Indian market and have become important players in their areas of operation.

The best performing companies are Siemens Ltd, MICO&Goetze (India).

UNI