India hopes to cross trade target with Germany this year

NEW DELHI: India expressed confidence that the bilateral trade target of 20 billion euro (about $26 billion) with Germany would be surpassed by the end of this year.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who is in Germany for a five-day visit, met German Federal Minister of Economics & Technology Philipp Roessler and said there is need for better collaboration in the field of generic drugs.

"Generics constitute just about one-fifth of German pharmaceutical industry, but the recent moves of German government to promote the use of generics affords enormous opportunities of collaboration with Indian Pharma companies, which have acquired global repute in developing affordable generic medicines," an official statement quoting Sharma said.

The bilateral trade between the countries has more than doubled over the last 5 years and has reached bout $23.64 billion last year.

"Sharma expressed confidence that the trade target of 20 billion euro by 2012 will be surpassed," it said.

Both the ministers reviewed the economic and commercial relations and suggested ways of expanding these linkages.

Speaking on the areas of collaborations, Sharma said that small and medium enterprises, which form the backbone of Indian industry, would benefit immensely through a technology collaboration with Germany.

It said that major Indian groups such as Tata Motors, Bharat Forge, Suzlon and the Mahindra Group,Wipro, and Infosys have established their base in Germany.

There are 215 Indian companies active in Germany and have employed over 24,000 people, it added.