Billions Pledged for a Green Future (III)

Expanding Indo-German frontiers of Trade and Investment 

~ Mahak Agrawal, Sayanti Sengupta

On May 26, 2014, India witnessed the swearing-in of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and soon after, a string of measures, missions and programmes were launched by the Centre to re-brand India. Make in India was one of the initiatives launched in September 2014 to attract global investments and transform India’s image of ‘fragile five’ to a global design and manufacturing hub.

Aligned with the Centre’s tenet of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’, Make in India galvanised the open invitation- supplemented by the liberalisation of 25 industry sectors and establishment of a dedicated Investor Facilitation Cell (IFC)- to businesses and investors around the world. Built on layers of a collaborative effort, Make in India opened investment doors and has been one of the most impactful initiatives led by India to overhaul its trade and investment landscape.

The most striking indicator of progress has been the opening of key sectors– including railways, defence, insurance and medical devices – to substantially higher levels of Foreign Direct Investment. In September 2017, India left the fragile five-pack and became a favoured investment destination- as a result of a package of Centre-led initiatives, including Make in India. As the partner country in Hannover Messe 2015, Make in India initiative garnered tremendous interest among the German and global business communities. 

Soon after, the Embassy of India Berlin initiated the Make in India Mittelstand (MIIM) programme, to support and fast track German small and medium enterprises (SMEs) or mittelstand companies- that form the backbone of Germany economy- enter the Indian market. Fast forward four years, this dedicated and strategic investment programme-driven by the Government of India- has brought with it 135 German mittelstand companies and a declared investment of ~1.2 billion EUR across industries of manufacturing, environment, infrastructure, consumer goods, mobility, advanced technologies, healthcare and chemicals.

Now that the two countries are celebrating 20 years of strategic partnerships, pledged billions for a green future, signed 22 MoUs to further the pledge- enhancing bilateral trade investments and resuming stalled negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement has become a priority. At the same time, both sides have agreed to enhance investments into innovation and knowledge, protection of human rights, actualising Sustainable Development Goals, and strengthening infrastructure for occupational diseases, earth observation and disaster management. In this ecosystem of trade investments, we suggest focusing on two key dimensions:

• Re-configure urban development cooperation to act as an agent of change- a change towards healthy territories. Learning from the faults exposed by the global pandemic, India’s growing emphasis on urban innovation and Germany’s developing research and tests on employing AI and innovative information & communication tools for cities of tomorrow, the urban domain provides new opportunities for impact investors.
• Expanding investment protection for sustainable businesses will attract a new range of ground-breaking entrepreneurs and businesses. These protection measures shall vary per the size, scale and impact of businesses. 

 Abovementioned are two of the several dimensions India and Germany trade investments can tap to benefit. In essence, the need for a resilient, sustainable future and thriving business, technical, and technological ecosystem cultivated by India-Germany provides a range of opportunities for trade investments to tap into.