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Germany has offered to deepen its collaboration with the Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
This was conveyed to the Indian industry at an interactive meeting that the visiting German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble had with CII members here on Monday.
“Most of our discussions centred on manufacturing and how we can work together to improve the manufacturing base of India”, Ajay Shriram, President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said after the interactive meeting.
Both sides recognised that SMEs played a major role in establishing a manufacturing base in every country, he noted.
The discussion was not about Germany sourcing from Indian SMEs, but about capacity building of these units through technology transfer and skill development, said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of CII.
Indian industry suggested that Germany explore the possibility of setting up manufacturing units in India for manufacture of solar panels and export them around the world.
During the meeting, Germany had also expressed keenness to deepen its engagement with India in the automobile sector.
Issues such as ‘Make in India’, free trade agreement with the European Union and the need to integrate information technology in the manufacturing process to improve production figured prominently during the meeting, said top CII officials.
CALLS ON PM
Later in the day, the visiting German Finance Minister Schauble called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Prime Minister Modi expressed concern about the recent terror attack in Paris and further related developments in Europe.
Modi lauded the able leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel in such difficult times.
Both Modi and Minister Schauble discussed the federal structure of India, its parallels with Germany, and the lessons that could be applied to the evolving political structure of Europe.
They also discussed the key areas of bilateral cooperation viz. Green Energy, Infrastructure, Make in India, Affordable Housing, and Clean Ganga.
Modi said he was looking forward to his visit to Germany in April, when India will be the Partner Country at the Hannover Fair, as well as the visit of Chancellor Merkel to India later this year.
Schauble is expected to hold bilateral talks with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here on Tuesday.
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