Page 24 - Germany

Germany and Spain in contest for $4.8 billion Indian submarine deal

Indian officials are currently evaluating competing bids to build six of the vessels in the country, senior Indian officials aware of the developments said, asking not to be named

Climate change: Life-threatening heat forcing Germany to ramp up defences

The country is already experiencing some of the worst-case effects of rising temperatures. Roughly 1,600 people have died this year as a result of the heat

India has maximum foreign students in Germany: Ambassador Ackermann

The highest number of foreign students in Germany are from India with over 42,000 students, a 25 per cent rise within a year, German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann said on Thursday. "Great! 42,000+ Indian students in Germany, 25 % more within one year. India now no. 1 group of foreign students in Germany, much faster than expected! Germany is popular among Indian students - and Indian students are popular in Germany, I hear from professors very often," Ackermann wrote an X. In an effort to keep up with the growing number of Indian students wanting to move to Germany on a student visa, the German Embassy's Academic Evaluation Centre had in April announced that it would replace the mandate for paper-printed certificates with digital certificates. "With the goal of accelerating processing times and making it easier for applicants to apply to a greater number of German universities, APS India is pleased to announce that starting from next week, paper printed certificates will be

Processing time for Schengen visa for travel to Germany reduced to 8 weeks

The processing time for Schengen visa for travelling to Germany has been brought down to eight weeks and efforts are on to reduce it further, Georg Enzweiler, Deputy Head of Mission at the German Embassy here, said Wednesday. "Visa is an important issue. We are striving to get better with application times. The thing is, we would like to change it from today to tomorrow but bureaucracy takes its toll. We are working on that through various means. We have increased our staff substantially in Mumbai and I think the waiting time has substantially gone down. "We are at roughly eight weeks now. We hope to get better with regard to that because of course it is what we want. We don't want to invite you here to promote tourism of Indians to Germany and then ask them apply for a visa three years in advance then you'll have a good chance," Georg Enzweiler said in response to a question at a press conference here. A Schengen visa is a short-stay (up to 90 days) visa that allows a person to ...

Overnight stay by Indians in Germany up 209% in '22; 65% of pre-Covid level

Indian tourists spent more than 6.23 lakh nights in Germany in 2022, a 209 per cent increase compared to the previous year, but the number was still 65 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels, according to new data from the German National Tourist Board. Romit Theophilus, director India for the German National Tourist Office (GNTO), said Indians spent more than 2.01 lakh nights in Germany in 2021. "The record level of 2019 with over 9.61 lakh overnight stays by Indians has not yet been reached. However, we have already reached 65 per cent of the level of 2019, leaving room for continuous growth as Indians return to travelling. There is huge demand among Indians for international travel," Theophilus said at a press conference here. "Germany is an attractive destination with exceptional offers. Our goal in the medium term is to reach the number of overnight stays we had before the COVID-19 pandemic. We have achieved a remarkable increase this year compared to 2021, which shows that our ..

Vodafone enters exclusive national roaming partnership with Germany's 1&1

Vodafone's new Chief Executive Margherita Della Valle is leading a turnaround of the group, and as part of that is seeking to improve performance in its largest market, Germany

US ratings downgrade puts focus on remaining nations with top credit grade

Countries with highest credit rating at S&P Global Ratings, Fitch and Moody's Investors Service include Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore and Australia

German data watchdog probing Worldcoin crypto project, says official

Worldcoin, which launched last week, requires users to give their iris scans in exchange for a digital ID and, in some countries, free cryptocurrency as part of plans to create a new identity

Samil to acquire Germany-based Dr Schneider Group for over Rs 1,000 crore

Apart from the aforementioned three major global acquisitions, Samil has done seven other smaller acquisitions in India and other parts of the world in 2023

German firm Valtech Mobility enters India with Pune centre of excellence

German mobility firm Valtech Mobility on Monday announced its entry into the Indian market with the setting up of a centre of excellence in Pune. A joint venture between global business transformation agency Valtech Group and European auto major Volkswagen Group, Valtech Mobility has a robust global network and expertise in connected vehicles, shared mobility, electrification, and data monetisation. The decision to bring Valtech Mobility into the fold aligns with the company's global expansion strategy, underscoring its commitment to growth and establishing a strong presence in diverse markets, the company said in a statement. "Valtech's (Group) success in India, with established offices in Gurugram and Bengaluru, now extends to Pune with Valtech Mobility. Leveraging Pune's automotive hub, we aim to scale our team with 300 engineers in the next 2-3 years. We'll continue to foster close collaborations with our clients as we drive innovation right from the design and development phase

India skilled workers in huge demand as Germany tries to woo nurses

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed the country's intention to simplify work visa rules for Indian IT workers in February to fulfil the demand for software expertise

Jaishankar meets German V-C, discusses 'opportunities' for bilateral ties

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday held "productive" talks with visiting German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck focusing on "new opportunities" for bilateral ties. In a Twitter post, Jaishnakar said he and Habeck exchanged perspectives on the conflict in Ukraine and the situation in the Indo-Pacific. "Delighted to welcome German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck in New Delhi. A productive discussion on the many new opportunities of India-Germany cooperation that a rising India presents," he said. "Also exchanged perspectives on the conflict in Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific situation," Jaishankar added. Habeck, who is also Germany's Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, is in India on a three-day visit. He is accompanied by a high-ranking official and a business delegation comprising top executives of large and medium-sized German companies. Habeck said India and Germany want to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and increase investments and collaboration

India engaged with Germany for return of baby Ariha Shah, says MEA

India on Thursday said it remained engaged with Germany for the return of an Indian baby girl, who has been living in a foster care in Berlin for over 20 months. Ariha Shah was placed in the custody of Germany's Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) on September 23, 2021 after the then seven month-old baby suffered an accidental injury. She has been in foster care since then. India has been maintaining that it is important for the child to be in her linguistic, religious, cultural and social environment. At a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said sending back the child to India is important for her cultural and national identity. "We have made very clear our desire to safeguard the child's cultural and national identity and ensure her return to India. We remain engaged with German authorities in this regard," he said. "There are separate parallel judicial proceedings underway and we are keeping close track of that," Bagchi said, replying to a questi

India, Germany to strengthen bilateral ties: German Vice Chancellor

Germany's Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck on Thursday said India and Germany want to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and increase investments and collaboration among companies. He arrived on a three-day visit to India on Thursday. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the Indo-German Business Forum here, Habeck also said China is Germany's biggest trading partner and a lot of German and European companies have invested in that country. "It is a huge market and this goes the same for India and for the US for example. On the other hand we see that being dependent on only one market could be a risk and even more so if we see that economic issues are not politically neutral, that interests are interwoven in the economic relations," he said. He further said "we can't decouple from China" but de-risking and diversification is of highest importance. Diversification, he said means that other partnerships, the Indo-German ...

Madrid, Rome shut down tourist places as temperature rises to 40 degrees

The high heat in the continent is a result of an anti-cyclonic high pressure system, named 'Cerberus' by the Italian Meteorological Society

German law on forced labour to have little impact on India's trade: GTRI

The German law to prohibit forced labour and protect human rights in global business supply chains will have little impact on India's trade with the European country as India already has comprehensive rules to deal with these issues, according to a report by think-tank GTRI. Germany has banned forced labour and other labour law violations in its supply chains extending within and outside Germany. The law called the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (SCDDA), came into effect on January 1 this year. It applies to firms with more than 3,000 employees. These include German firms and foreign firms doing business with Germany. This means that it covers a significant number of companies in Germany, and it will likely have a considerable impact on how these companies do business. Smaller firms will be covered under the law from January 2024. The SCDDA may have little impact as India already has comprehensive labour laws prohibiting child labour, forced labour, and workplace discrimination,

Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solution bags $100 mn contract from IOC Panipat

Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solution India, a unit of the German engineering major, on Wednesday said it bagged a USD 100-million order from Indian Oil Corporation to build a polybutadiene rubber plant at Panipat refinery complex in Haryana. Polybutadiene rubber is manufactured from the polymerization of butadiene and has applications in manufacturing tyres and additives. Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions will execute this project, with 60 kilo tonne per annum capacity, based on technology from a reputed licensor, the company said. The lump-sum EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) scope includes residual process engineering, detail engineering, project management, procurement, construction & commissioning of the plant, Rajesh Kamath, chief executive of Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions' chemical plant business said. Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions is into petrochemical and refinery, fertilizers, chlor-alkali, green chemicals, cryogenic storages etc. and has executed ...

Meta loses EU court fight over German antitrust crackdown on data

The EU's Court of Justice ruled that Germany's Federal Cartel Office didn't overstep its powers in 2019 when it ordered Facebook to overhaul how it tracks its users' internet browsing

Want to see expansion of UNSC permanent seats to include India, Brazil: UK

The UK has called for the expansion of the UN Security Council's permanent seats to include India, Brazil, Germany and Japan as well as African representation, underlining that it is high time the powerful UN body entered the 2020s. Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of July Ambassador Barbara Woodward's comments came as she briefed UN correspondents on the programme of work of the Security Council for the month. On reform of the UN Security Council, we want to see the expansion of the Council's permanent seats to include India, Brazil, Germany and Japan and African representation. It's high time the Council entered the 2020s, Woodward told reporters here on Monday. Woodward referred to remarks by British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly last week in which he announced the UK's ambition to drive forward reform of the multilateral system. Woodward said the UK's presidency of the Security Council in

Macron scraps trip amid rioting across France, as loved ones bury teen

President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday scrapped an official trip to Germany after a fourth straight night of rioting and looting across France in defiance of a massive police deployment. Hundreds turned out for the burial of the 17-year-old whose killing by police triggered the unrest. France's Interior Ministry announced that in the latest night of violence, 1,311 people had been arrested around the country, where 45,000 police officers fanned out in a so-far unsuccessful bid to restore order. In the violence sparked by the teen's death on Tuesday, some 2,400 persons have been arrested overall. The protesters and rioters turned out on the streets of cities and towns, clashing with police, despite Macron's appeal to parents to keep their children at home. About 2,500 fires were set and stores were ransacked, according to authorities. The violence in France was taking a toll on Macron's diplomatic profile. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier's office said that Macron phoned on .