Home Economy India seeks more investments from German firms

India seeks more investments from German firms

By DPA

Berlin : German firms should become more involved in India’s economic boom, particularly in infrastructure projects, India’s Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said in Berlin Tuesday.

Over the next five years, India was planning to invest some $475 billion in airports, roads and power stations, Chidambaram told a meeting of the Indo-German Joint Economic Council.

He called for showcase projects to be identified, “where we would like to have German business on board.”

The finance minister put German direct investment in India at $312 million annually, making Germany the sixth largest foreign investor in India.

Chidambaram said “endless possibilities” existed in biotech, processed foods, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, tourism and health.

He expressed confidence that over the medium term India would be able to maintain its current rate of growth, estimated at more than nine percent this year.

Chidambaram was critical of delays in Germany in issuing export licences and visas to Indian citizens.

He proposed to German Economics Minister Michael Glos, who attended the meeting, that Indian firms in Germany should be allowed to fill 10 per cent of their staff positions with Indians.

Glos noted that the annual trade volume between the two countries had reached 10 billion euros ($14 billion) in 2006, four years earlier than expected.

Earlier, Glos made a formal apology for the racist attack on a group of Indian men in the town of Muegeln last month.

“I most deeply regret and condemn the event in the strongest terms,” Glos said.

He added that the overwhelming majority of Germans felt “deep sympathy” for the eight Indian men who were pursued in the small town in the eastern state of Saxony on the night of August 18 by a mob shouting racist slogans.