Monday, April 18, 2011


Third Meeting of Indo German Working group on Automotive Sector Inaugurated

The third meeting of the Indo German Working Group on Automotive Sector was inaugurated today by the Minister for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises Shri Praful Patel along with his German counterpart Dr. Peter Ramsauer, Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Development, Federal Republic of Germany. Shri A. Sai Prathap, Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Mr. Thomas Matussek, the Ambassador of Germany to India, Shri B.S. Meena, Secretary, Heavy Industry were also present .

Inaugurating the meeting Minister Patel said “Today, Germany is India’s biggest trading partner in Europe and our 5th biggest trading partner in the world. There has been a rapid growth in trade and economics with bilateral trade of about Euro 15 billion in 2010. This translates to roughly 17% growth on year to year basis. During this period, Indian exports grew by over 19.5% to reach Euro 5.66 billion, while our imports from Germany registered an increase of over 16.4% to reach Euro 8.36 billion. As on date, Germany enjoys a trade surplus of about Euro 2.70 billion. I am sure that, given our strong economic ties, we shall be able to achieve the target of bilateral trade of Euro 20 billion by 2012.”

“In addition to the strong bi-lateral trade between the two countries; Germany has also been an important source of Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) in India. During 1991 to 2010, the cumulative Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) from Germany stood at US$ 3.75 billion, mainly in the areas of services, chemicals, automobiles etc. During April to November 2010, Germany was the 8th largest investor in India with FDI inflows of US$ 104 million, constituting approximately 2% share of total FDI inflows into India during this period.” The Minister also added that the FDI inflow is expected to increase significantly by 2020 particularly due to the export growth projected for the automobile sector in the recent future.

The Minister told the German delegation that India and Germany have plenty to share specially in areas like initiatives to mitigate the impact of mobility on the environment and planet change. He also informed that the Indian Government has recently approved the National Mission for Electric Mobility to promote electric mobility at the national level and manufacturing of electric/hybrid vehicles in India. As a first step, an enabling, empowered, fast decision and policy making structure at the apex level in the form of National Council for Electric Mobility(NCEM) and the National Board for Electric Mobility(NBEM) has been set up for expeditious implementation of this initiative. The Minister assured that in India the strictest environmental norms will be adhered to. The Minister also called for further value addition both from manufacturing for Indian markets as well as exporting from India and said that an Indo German partnership in this sphere will be a formidable one and will benefit both the countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Peter Ramsauer said that cooperation was the key to India and Germany’s mutual success and there was scope for further cooperation in the automotive sector between the two countries. He stressed on the requirement of energy efficiency in the transport sector and said that the German Government was specifically promoting Electric Mobility. Electric Mobility was also the area of focus for further intensifying cooperation between the two countries. The Ministers also met separately for a bilateral meeting to further discuss area of mutual cooperation including future road map for India’s Auto Fuel Policy, Electric Mobility plan in India, on-going cooperation in Automotive Sector etc.

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