The 2^nd VDMA Engineering Summit was held on 30^th September 2013 at Taj Vivanta, M.G.Road, Bangalore. Around 110 members attended this prestigious event. India is the second-largest sales market in Asia for the German engineering industry. Presently more than 525 VDMA member companies are engaged with their own business in the Indian market. After a successful debut in Pune last year, the Summit was held in Bangalore this year offering a platform for exchange in engineering sector and to expand the network within VDMA members. India - has always been on the radar for Europe and especially for Germany. With the long standing relationship between the two countries since centuries, the prominence of India for Germany has only grown several manifolds and continues to be one of the most important markets in the Asian region and likewise for India the significance of Germany within European Union too has grown over the years.

The summit started off with a welcome from Rajesh Nath, Managing Director, VDMA India. Mr Nath mentioned that the exports of German Machinery to India touched 3.2 Billion Euros in 2012. With this the exports of German machinery to India have increased by around 7 times in the last 12 years. The exports of machinery from India to Germany attained a figure of around 500 Million Euros indicating an increase of 5 times in the last 12 years.

The Chief Guest, Mr. Joern Rohde, Consul General of Federal Republic of Germany in Bangalore reiterated the strengthening bonds between India and Germany and the increased bilateral trade between the 2 countries which crossed 17 Billion Euros in 2012. Mr Rohde finds immense potential for growth in the country but feels that it has been at a slow pace specially in the last few months.

This was followed by the address of Mr. M Maheshwar Rao, Commissioner for Industrial Development & Director of Industries and Commerce. He elaborated on the skilled labour problem that India has been facing the measures that has been taken by the Karnataka government to counteract these problems. He mentioned that there was around 40% - 50% shortage of skilled labour in the country and skill management associations like KGTTI - The German Training Centre need to provide their assistance for skill management. He also mentioned that the state government has provided incentives for SME by providing loans to small entrepreneurs. Mr Rao expressed that the manufacturing industries need to promote the cluster development in states of India thereby providing a more inclusive versus non inclusive growth as presently provided by the service sector.

Mr. Ulrich Ackermann, Managing Director, Foreign Trade Division within VDMA Frankfurt elaborated how the Indo-German relationship has grown over the years. Out of the many things he stated what clearly stood out was that while India was Germany's 20th largest trade partner in 2011 (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2012), the previous year saw India climbing up the ladder finishing as 10th largest partner in the mechanical engineering sector.

The 3rd Anniversary issue of the VDMA India Quarterly Newsletter - German Machinery Industry was released on this occasion. This Newsletter covers the development in the various industrial sectors in Germany.

Further the Guest of Honour address on Fall of Rupee and its Impact on Indian Economy was from Prof. Aman Agarwal, Senior Vice Chairman, Indian Institute of Finance. Prof. Agarwal called India as the 'Baby Elephant' with large potential but slow pace with movement and growth. India has been successful in bringing down the trade deficit from 11% to 4.9% currently. He mentioned that India accounts for 2.5% of world GDP in US dollar terms and 5.5 % in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. With the land acquisition bill recently released by the President of India, he feels there is more room for growth. He also stated that since there is a large unorganised sector also thriving in India the growth figures projected are always on the lower side and hence a growth of 5% declared will in real terms be around 8.4% due to the additional contribution of the unorganised sector. This has also been the reason why that India was one of the few economies in the world to surpass recession even in worst times. The rupee depreciation is only a temporary phase and the economy has already shows first signs of recovery. In the next quarter, there are new polices and reforms that will be implemented and this also includes the entry of around 10 multinational banks through joint ventures into India. This has been looked upon bringing in more investment in the country which will also help in the growth pace to speeden up. He also elaborated about the 8.5 billion USD stimulus package that will be rolled beginning this quarter in India that will help India stabilise its economy and appreciate the rupee much faster than expected.

The Key note address on "Indian Economy -Light at the end of the Tunnel" was made by. Dr. Wilfried Aulbur, Managing Partner, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. He mentioned that with the present economy scenario in India, as per the Industrial Index of Production, there is a demand of around 1 million jobs and this will increase to 70 million in the future. The ideal GDP for India should be at a pace of 7% - 8%. The challenge today in India is to deal with the high voltality, regulatory complexity and infrastructure in India. He mentioned that there has been a steady growth in the Automotive sector in India over the past 125 years and this is going reverse in terms of growth in Europe, especially in Germany. The Indian automotive growth has been at the rate of 18.5% CAGR and for the auto component industry grew at 19.6%. The GDP in Germany which had been declining in the past years, showed robust growth from 2009/10 onwards after the global meltdown. Even in these difficult times, growth is stable at 1.3%. He termed that India should change the slogan in the positive note from 'Incredible India' to 'Credible India' and reinstate faith in foreign investors. He asked the multinationals in India to invest in training and improving knowledge of the labour to develop them into more skilled work force by utilising the finance kept aside as CSR by each company. He also quoted that there the country needs to focus on more clusters such as Bangalore for IT and with the recent developments in Gujarat for the automotive sector.

Dr. Johannes Thomas Grobe, Managing Director, Bosch Rexroth (India) Limited spoke on "Optimising Production" with the recent shift of their entire plant from Ahmedabad to Sanand. They presently have three facilities- two in Bangalore and the new plant at Sanad. In his presentation he detailed out the procedures undertaken for a smooth shift. With their presence in India for over 35 years Bosch Rexroth employs in India around 1,000 people with an annual turnover of around 6.5 billion INR. He also expressed that education and training is a key for future success in the country and India needs to implement a training program inclusive of vocational training in their ciriculum.

The presentation on VDMA Training Project Cleaning System (Cooperation between German Government and VDMA) was done by Mr. Sumit Sharma, Regional Manager, VDMA India. On 18th June, 2013, the inauguration of the German-supported Skill Development Program "Facility Care and Maintenance" was organized with an objective to harness Cleaning Sector skills for Indian Facility Management. It was held at the newly built GMR Varalakshmi Foundation (GMRVF) vocational training centre in Dwarka, New Delhi. German Engineering Federation (VDMA) in association with Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Facility Management (FM) industry in India have developed an innovative skill development program to promote skills in cleaning sector in India. The training included class room training (75% practical) and industry attachment; with substantial time to practice the skills. The current project is incubated to meet the need for a skilled workforce to efficiently address the demands of FM Industry in cleaning services. Two of the world's leading cleaning equipment manufacturers- Alfred Kaercher GmbH & Co.A.G and Hako Werke Gmbh are supporting in development of the Training Program through their Indian subsidiaries - Kaercher India and Roots Multiclean who are also actively involved in the project.

The final session of the summit was devoted on 'Training and Education in India - Coping with the Challenges'. This panel discussion was moderated by Rajesh Nath-Managing Director, VDMA India. The participants in the discussion were R. Joshi, Managing Director, Festo Controls Pvt. Ltd; V. G. Sakthikumar, Whole Time Director (Operations), Schwing Stetter (India) Private Ltd.; Dr. Anton Reinfelder, MD, Groz - Beckert Asia Private Limited; D. M. Thaker, Managing Director, Schuler India Pvt. Ltd and Jagadish Bhat, Managing Director, Man Trucks (I) Pvt. Ltd.

The lively panel discussion covered topics like Manufacturing policy, Vocational training, role of the ITIs, role of the industry including dual training system in Germany. The panelists contributed through their experience and the activities being undertaken by the individual companies in this regard. Summing up the discussion, it was felt that there is a shortage of skilled man power and it is important that the industry interacts with the educational institutes so that the "employability" of the fresh engineering graduates can be increased. Also if the industry efforts in vocational training can be channelized it could bring more benefits. It is necessary to supplement the efforts of the government like National Skill Development Council etc. It was also suggested that if companies contribute a part of their profits for vocational training and skill development, this can help the cause.

The Summit concluded with an evening Cocktail and dinner at the same venue which provided a good interaction and networking opportunity for both the members and speakers at the event.