Beyond Ikea and H&M: Sweden raises its trade, investment game in India

With India-EU FTA talks entering a crucial phase, one group aims to expand ties with India even further: The Nordic countries. Archis Mohan reports 

The European Union (EU) and its member countries have stepped up their engagement with India, in the face of punitive tariffs being imposed against New Delhi by the United States (US). 

While negotiators from both sides are racing against the clock to deliver the India-EU free-trade agreement (FTA) by the end of 2025, the Nordic nations — Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden — are particularly keen on fostering growth in ties with India, and are looking to host Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the third India-Nordic Summit later this year. 

Last week, the Swedish Embassy in New Delhi, along with the Sweden-India Business Council, launched the ‘Time for Sweden’ campaign. Swedish Ambassador to India, Jan Thesleff, told Business Standard that bilateral trade and investments between the two countries could double in the next six-seven years, and it is time for Swedish and Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to collaborate. Swedish Trade Commissioner to India Sofia Högman added that a delegation of 15 Swedish SMEs from various industries will be visiting India this month. 

Sweden is the largest Nordic country in terms of landmass, population, and gross domestic product (GDP). 

Looking for potential joint initiatives, a high-level delegation of 10 Finnish healthcare companies is also set to visit India this week — from September 15 to 19 — and will engage with hospitals, government bodies, and industry leaders in Delhi and Mumbai, the Finland Embassy in New Delhi said. Representatives of leading health companies, such as Nightingale Health, Tezted, Danvantar Biophotonics, and Metabite will be part of the delegation covering healthcare domains like advanced diagnostics, biopharmaceuticals and biologics manufacturing. 

The Swedish Ambassador said the Nordic countries are looking forward to hosting Modi during the India-Nordic Summit, to be held later this year. The first summit was held in Stockholm in 2018, and the second in Copenhagen in May 2022. The third was scheduled to be held in Oslo in May, but had to be postponed in light of the Pahalgam terror attack and subsequent hostilities breaking out between India and Pakistan. “We are waiting for a new date. We hope that the meeting will take place soon,” Thesleff said. 

According to Högman, India and Sweden have complementary strengths in sustainability. “One of our programmes is the India-Sweden Innovation Accelerator, where we have cohorts of 15 companies coming every six months to India, where we are doing matchmaking, where we have Indian ambition and Swedish innovation, and we create pilot cases for them, and we are running right now over 250 pilots,” she said. She added that it’s not just Ikea and H&M — smaller Swedish brands are also finding their way into India. 

Swedish diplomats added that Indians form the largest student community from any single country in Sweden. As many as 8,800 Indian students applied to study there last year, and currently, the number stands at an estimated 2,500. “The biggest group of immigrants to my country is from India,” Thesleff said. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, there are 88,400 people of Indian origin in Sweden, of which 66,400 are Indian nationals. Most of them are professionals, predominantly in the IT sector. 

Sweden has a population of around 10 million, and its GDP last year was around $591 billion, with per capita GDP around $55,756.  The country’s total exports for the year were valued at $301 billion, while imports amounted to $307 billion.