Germany views Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make In India’ initiative as a big opportunity for its industrial firms, visiting German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on Monday.
Dr. Schäuble expressed keen interest in working with India on the manufacturing sector, especially in the auto and solar energy industries, at a meeting with business lobby Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Monday.
“Manufacturing was the focus of the talks with the German Finance Minister... he did not raise any apprehensions at all about the Make In India or India’s solar mission… he did not raise any sort of tariff or non-tariff barriers at all,” CII President Ajay Shriram briefed reporters after a meeting of Indian industry leaders with Dr. Schäuble.
The German minister is scheduled to hold talks with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday.
Dr. Schäuble’s announcement of the German manufacturing industry’s readiness to participate in Mr. Modi’s ‘Make In India’ policy comes after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry brought up worries of the Obama administration over the initiative.
Mr. Kerry during his visit to the Vibrant Gujarat summit raised concerns over New Delhi’s push for use of indigenous technology, calling it the new ‘make in India law’, in particular the Modi Government’s announcement of a series of 1,000 MW grid-connected solar PV power projects that carry a mandatory condition that all PV cells and modules used in solar plants set up under this scheme will be made in India.
Germany, however, is the world leader in solar energy generation with the largest solar photovoltaics (PV) installed capacity.
Mr. Modi is scheduled to jointly inaugurate the Hannover trade fair along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on his visit to Germany in April. The fair will showcase Mr. Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative to global investors. India is the partner country at the Hannover Messe 2015, the world's largest industrial trade fair.
