Top Indian firms sign six MoUs with German, Swiss companies

BERLIN: Leading Indian public sector firms have signed six MoUs with top global companies from Germany, Switzerland, Russia and Bulgaria to scale up the country's manufacturing in high-tech areas at the ongoing Hannover Messe, the world's biggest industrial fair.

The MoUs were signed yesterday at a special event organised by the Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC) India, the country's apex engineering organisation and mandated as the lead agency for India's participation as Partner Country at the fair, according to an EEPC release.

"A more profound technical collaboration between India and Germany will help the Indian electrical industry scale up in accordance with the rate at which the market is expected to grow," said Rajan Katoch, Secretary in the Department of Heavy Industry, at a seminar.

Recalling Germany's long term association with India, Rajan said Vision 2022 for the Indian electrical equipment industry is to make India the country of choice for production of electrical equipment and reach an output of $ 100 billion by balancing exports and imports.

"Through collaboration and exchange of services, Germany can gain immensely from not only getting access to India's huge market, but also utilising India as an export hub for the global market by leveraging the country's technical and cost-efficient production capabilities," said Joachim Richter, Project Finance International & Chairman of ZVEI Foreign Trade committee.

"Germany has excellent production and innovation capabilities, highly skilled workforce, high technical standards and huge R&D investments; India requires these expertise to further build its competitiveness in the sector both locally and globally," said Anupam Shah, Chairman EEPC India, who inaugurated the seminar.

EEPC India with Department of Electronics & IT and Department of Heavy Industry under the Government of India and ZVEI (German Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers Association) organised the seminar to discuss avenues to increase industry competitiveness through technology, up-gradation and skill development.