Trade delegation from Cologne visits Mumbai to woo Indian industry

Mumbai, Nov 2 (UNI) A high-level 16-member delegation from the German city of Cologne is in the city to woo Indian businesses to anchor their bases there.

Cologne Mayor Fritz Schramma, who is leading the delegation, told media persons here today that ''we've already held our talks with Maharashtra Industry Minister Ashok Chavan on the issue and I'm hopeful of good outcomes of the talk.'' The aim of the visit is to present Cologne as a top business location in Europe and to attract the attention of Indian businessmen.

The delegation will now discuss the issue with the Indian IT firms like TCS and Infosys. I want to invite the Indian IT major Infosys, which has already got its presence in other parts of Germany, to come to Cologne with a promise to provide it a number of customers in insurance and other sectors. Not to mention that Cologne is already home to 60 big insurance firms, including DKV (one of the biggest German health insurance firms), ABN and others.

The delegation is also likely to visit to some other cities like Bangalore and New Delhi.

Mr Schramma rued that at a time when the number of Chinese industries in the city had almost doubled within the past one year, there were merely a few Indian companies that had anchored their bases here. And that is the reason why they have come to India, he added.

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