German State Woos Indian Investors

The German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpomernn has offered prospective Indian entrepreneurs investment opportunities in shipbuilding, food-processing and renewable energy.

Jurgen Seidel, the states minister for economic affairs, said at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi yesterday that the Mecklenburg-Vorpomernn government was supporting companies keen to set up joint ventures in India.

Seidel is leading a 20-member business delegation to the 12th Indian Engineering Trade Fair.

Mecklenburg-Vorpomernn is located between the German cities of Berlin and Hamburg.

German ambassador Frank Elbe said at the meeting that Mecklenburg-Vorpomernn would invest 50,000 Deutsche Marks in setting up an investment bureau in Calcutta along with three other German companies to facilitate technology transfer and joint venture opportunities in the country.

 

CDG Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft (an organisation involved in international training), Nordwind (involved in energy plant construction and marketing), and Spartec (engaged in regenerative and solar energy) have joined hands to set up the investment cell in Calcutta that will be inaugurated tomorrow.

CDG Carl Dusiberg Gesellschaft will provide training to personnel of the prospective Indian joint venture partners and prepare them in Germany to manage an Indo-German joint venture.

In the field of renewable energy, the companies in the German delegation are offering technology regarding wind mills, solar technology and sea water desalination plants.

Mecklenburg-Vorpomernn is interested in starting a joint venture in India in shipbuilding and related activities.

The state has a thriving maritime industry with shipbuilding and related activities constituting a major portion of the business conducted in the state. The state has a 40 per cent share of the German shipbuilding industry. Seidel said Neptun Industrie Rostock GmbH involved in the metal industry, services and domestic engineering was negotiating with a potential Indian partner.

A number of Indian companies including Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel), Bharat Zinc, Burn Standard and Tata Consulting Engineers are negotiating with Bios Biological Systems, engaged in biological systems and sewage plant technology.

Bharat Zinc and Bhel are also talking to Neptun Industries and Pagholz Formenteile and Nordwind and Spartec respectively for collaboration in areas ranging from services and domestic engineering to solar technology and regenerative energy.

However the German states business and commercial interests in India will be forged on a step by step basis. Seidel said initially most of the companies were interested in marketing their products through dealers in India; technology transfer would come at a later stage. A joint venture with equity participation by both partners would be the ideal culmination of the alliance, he said.

Meanwhile Saxony, another German state, is also looking for business partners at the IETF.