By IANS,
Kolkata : Germany’s envoy to India Friday called for greater foreign participation in this country’s insurance sector but said it was a good policy to go for liberalisation step-by-step and slowly.
“There are same areas which if opened up can be mutually beneficial, like the insurance sector. The foreign direct investment (FDI) in insurance should go beyond 26 percent,” said German Ambassador Thomas Matussek.
Addressing members of three trade bodies – The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce and Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce, Matussek said: “We do not believe that the market should say it all. You need a set of rules binding on all of us”.
“When we call for more opening up of the economy, we think it will be good policy to go step by step and slowly,” he said.
He said German companies were bullish about India. “The Indo-German Chamber of Commerce had conducted a survey among 800 German companies operating in India. The feedback was positive. Most of them were bullish about future prospects in India, and very few said they were disappointed”.
With 2011 being the 60th year of the establishment of Indo-German diplomatic relations, a German Year under the motto “Infinite Opportunities – Germany and India 2011-12” – was being organised in various parts of India to mark the occasion and strengthen future relationship.
It encompasses all facets of urban development including mobility, migration, water, energy, sustainable development and social issues.
The key feature of the event series will be a mobile, modular event venue that will travel through seven Indian megacities – New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad – and six tier two cities, he said.
The events will start in May 2011 and continue upto Nov next year. The ambassador said India’s need for energy, transport and roads “was almost an invite to Germany as my country is vvery strong in these sectors”.
“We offer full transfer of technology and nobody can match that,” Matussek said. Asked about the problems faced by German companies in India, he mentioned sluggish legal procedure and lack of transparency in the implementation process.
“Also, the implementation part can be improved, while the bureaucracy -particularly in Delhi – still has the mindset of the 1980s”.