Hamburg (07.10.2010): The last decade has seen India emerge as an economic powerhouse. Growth in India, in contrast to China, has largely been driven by robust domestic demand. Not surprisingly, access to the Indian market has been a primary reason for many foreign firms to invest there. As a result foreign direct investments (FDI) inflows into India have recorded unprecedented volumes. While the accumulated stock of FDI in India prior to economic liberalisation (1990) amounted to less than $ 1.7 billion, it grew to $ 16.3 billion by the turn of the millennium in 2000. Last year it nearly reached the mark of $ 164 billion thereby growing at over 29% a year (CAGR) in past 9 years.
Also German companies, including many small and medium-sized firms, have been at the forefront of investment activities in India. Germany stands as the 8th largest source of FDI in India. German companies in India reportedly generate an annual turnover of over € 14 billion (2008) and employ close to 400,000 people.
Many studies, however, suggest that India remains a tough market for many companies. Especially SMEs often face problems in creating a suitable business model, developing locally adapted and affordable products, managing labour affairs and dealing with the regulatory authorities. In fact, a recent World Bank study ranks India on 133rd place out of 188 as far as the "ease of doing business" is concerned; way behind China (89), Russia (120) and Brazil (129).
The Hamburg chapter of German-Indian Round Table (GIRT) and the Bremen Chamber of Commerce ("Ländernetzwerk Indien") are glad to announce that Mr. Felix Colsman (Managing Director of Minimax GmbH & Co. KG) and Ms. Nadine Ulrich (German Centre India Holding) will share their experiences in successfully creating, sustaining and expanding India operations with our members and other interested practitioners at their annual joint event in Bremen on 1st November 2010.
Our two speakers have deep "insider knowledge" of India. While Mr. Colsman was recently honoured by the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce for his outstanding contribution to the bilateral business relations, Ms. Ulrich was until recently responsible for managing the 1st November 2010 at 18:00h in Club zu Bremen (Haus Schütting, Am Markt 13, 28195 Bremen) and is in-principle open to everyone with interest in Indo-German business relations, subject to availability of seats. The participation is free of charge: the participants however have to pay for their own consumption of food and beverages.
We cordially invite and look forward to welcoming an interested and interesting audience of decision-makers from the Indo-German business spectrum and the society at large. Since the seating capacity is limited, a binding and confirmed pre-registration via e-mail to Ms. Anja Reinkensmeier (Reinkensmeier@handelskammer-bremen.de) is required latest by October 25, 2010.
German-Indian Round Table Hamburg- Dateien:
GIRT-HH_2010-10-07_English.pdf176 K