Bavaria, the economic powerhouse of Germany, and the Confederation of Indian Industry-Andhra Pradesh have decided to set up a joint working group to explore business opportunities of mutual interest.
The suggestion made by CII-AP vice-chairman and CEO of Maple Software G.S. Shiv Kumar was accepted by the State of Bavaria (India Office) Executive Director John Kottayil and Senior Advisor T. Sampath Kumar during an interactive session with investors organised by the CII-Visakhapatnam zonal chapter here on Wednesday.
“This is our first visit to Visakhapatnam. We want to explore our synergies in IT and other fields. Bavaria, located in the centre of European markets, has already approached the AP Government to extend its support for development in various fields in the new State,” Mr. Kottayil told The Hindu .
“We have a lot of confidence in the proactive policies of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Seventy Indian companies have their operations in Bavaria, including Infosys, Wipro, TCS, and Reddy’s Lab. We have over 350 companies in India,” he said.
The bilateral trade volume is estimated at Euros 2.3 billion. Export from Bavaria to India in 2013 was to the tune of Euros 1.3 billion as against imports of Euros 943 million. Bavaria has the second largest Indian community numbering over 11,000. Bavaria is most advanced State and is home to global players like BMW, Adidas, Audi, EADS, and Siemens, in addition to huge network of small and medium-sized industrial, trade and service companies.
Mr. Kottayil said Bavaria was strategically located and had emerged as the most preferred destination for investments in life sciences, IT, automotive, electrical and mechanical engineering, biotechnology, medical equipment, environmental technology, and aerospace. Bavaria, with an area of 70,551 km (No. 1 in Germany), population of 12.54 million and GDP (2013) of Euros 487 million (No. 8 in EU) offers an ideal investment climate with fast-track clearances and subsidies from Germany and EU, Mr. Sampath Kumar said.
