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 interest in working with India in 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 said, briefing 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 positive note on German manufacturing industry’s readiness to participate in the ‘Make in India’ policy comes close on the heels of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s voicing of the Obama administration’s worries 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 during his visit to Germany in April. India is the partner country at the Hannover Messe 2015, the world's largest industrial trade fair. The fair will showcase Mr. Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative to global investors.
