And for a Friday returning to Bengaluru after the AGM of Indo -German Chamber, some thoughts….. some musings…..
The 66th AGM of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) was held last week in Mumbai, the first in person large format meeting after three years of Covid. Also, we received the first German trade delegation headed by Mr.Wolfgang Tiefensee the Minister of Economy, Science and Digital Society. In his keynote address, one could easily read the shifting German and European focus away from China and Russia and looking for alternatives. Whilst the big German MNCs are all doing very well in India – BOSCH, Siemens, SAP, Bayer, BASF etc. – but their investments and commitments in China is much much bigger. The Russia /China axis and the standoff with US will surely impact Germany’s entire approach to China, whilst it will take much more time and effort to redirect the Biggies to India, the real opportunity for India is with the Mittlestand – the so called Medium scale family owned German companies which by Indian standards are still very big; 500 to 900 +Mn Euros with cutting edge technologies. A concerted strategy has to be developed to get more of them to India and develop Win-Win partnerships with good ethical Indian partners. The scope is huge and the time is NOW.
Think of Germany and it’s all about manufacturing, technology etc. etc. It’s also a fantastic educational and cultural centre and job market for Human Resources services. Most Indian students only think of US, UK, Canada and now Australia due to ease of English language. But Germany is an excellent education destination for engineering plus the liberal arts and law. DAAD ( German Academic Exchange Services ) is doing yeomen service in promoting German education, providing scholarships, inviting scientists from India and bilateral research projects. About 30,000 Indian students are already studying in Germany. But the potential is huge and going forward in the next decade, job prospects between India and Germany will hugely multiply. An excellent example of opportunity is the recent MOU by Kerala Govt with German Federal Employment Agency to train and recruit nurses. Under the aegis of NORKA, a scheme called Triple-Win, nurses from Kerala with guaranteed job placements will move in large numbers. It’s just the beginning for the services sector. Opportunities exist not only in Germany, but the entire developed world.
India has changed. Opportunities are galore. NRIs, PIOs and OCIs must recognise these changes and be the ambassadors. Let’s all work to build the right image of India, the non-political way, the inclusive way, the SEEGOS way.