The apex engineering export organisation - along with the support of the Ministry of Commerce and Department of Heavy Industry – took various initiatives to reach out to German companies for attracting technology and investment in India.

 

EEPC India, the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India, took various steps at Hannover Messe 2019 - a trade fair held from April 1-5 in Germany - to showcase India’s potential to the global manufacturing industry. According to the EEPC India, during trade fair, senior Indian Government officials, scientists, academia and industry leaders visited the manufacturing and research facilities of top German companies including BMW, Airbus and Siemens at Munich, Hamburg and Berlin respectively to see how best the Indian industry can integrate itself with the fast changing technology and the best global manufacturing practices.

 

The high level visit was organised by the apex engineering export organisation – EEPC India, with the support of the Ministry of Commerce and Department of Heavy Industry. The Indian delegation, which held several key meetings and interactive sessions with the German investors, was led by Dr A R Sihag (the Secretary in the Department of Heavy Industry) and comprised, among others Sukriti Likhi (Joint Secretary in the Department). 

 

"India aims to increase the share of manufacturing sector in its economy from 18 per cent at present to 25 per cent in the future. India offers a large market and offers perfect complementarity for advanced markets of the world like Germany,” said Dr Sihag.

 

Senior scientists from the prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc) were also part of the delegation. Crucial initiatives were taken to reach out to potential and existing German investors briefing them about different aspects of reforms being undertaken by India to improve ease of doing business and scaling up of infrastructure support for facilitating the manufacturing. German companies like Beckhoff, Siemens and Nord Drive Systems were among those which pre-dominantly participated in the ‘India Investment Meet’, organised at Hannover in the first week of April 2019. The Indian team and participation by 60 companies, including MSMEs, showcased their technological strength.

 

Ravi Sehgal, Chairman of EEPC India, said, "Top scientific and technology institutes like IISC, participated at Hannover event and there is a need to integrate the Indian industry with new innovations and skill sets which should be complimentary to the requirements of the global markets.”