Record rise in India-Germany trade
Tuesday, 25 September 2007, 19:30 IST
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New Delhi: Bilateral trade between India and Germany has touched a record $7.62 billion during the first six months of this calendar year to record a 15.63 percent growth, a leading chamber said Monday. "An interesting fact in this growth is India's major shift from export of agricultural products to industrial products and finished goods," said Ajay Singha, deputy director-general, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC). "While industrial products constitute around 92 percent of the total exports, finished goods are almost 85 percent of the total goods exported," Singha said in a statement. India's export to Germany for January-June 2007 has crossed $3.18 billion - an increase of 12.64 percent over the previous year - and imports from Germany reached $4.44 billion to register an increase of 17.86 percent. "In recent years, we have witnessed a shift in the business interests of Indian companies, especially in the engineering sector," said Singha, whose chamber recently took a 13-member Indian delegation to Germany from the automotive, aerospace and mechanical engineering sectors. "The Indian small and medium enterprises have geared up their technologies and production capacities and are keen to provide a sourcing hub to their German counterparts," he said. Almost 80 percent of the companies taken for a visit to Germany were interested in providing engineering, design and application services to their German counterparts and become their sourcing hubs for components, spares and accessories, he added. "Another interesting shift is growing interest among Indian SMEs for strategic tie-ups with their German counterparts for technology transfer as well as joint ventures to set up manufacturing facilities in India," he said. This interest was reciprocated by their German counterparts, who invested $933 million in the first half of this year, compared to $264 million in the same period last year, to register an increase of almost 353 percent, he added.
Source: IANS
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