Bavaria to encourage investments in State

The German State of Bavaria, one of the largest economies in Europe and headquarters of international brands such as Audi, BMW, Siemens, Adidas, and Airbus, will open its office here to the explore the possibilities of encouraging investments in the State. The decision was taken following discussions between Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and John Kottayil, executive director at the Indian office of Invest-in-Bavaria, a Bangalore-based investment promotion agency, here on Tuesday.

Mr. Kottayil told The Hindu that there was immense scope for collaboration between the two States in information technology (IT), tourism, and environmental technology. He said it made sense for Bavaria to share its expertise with Kerala in key areas such as renewable energy. A collaboration involving the sharing of knowledge and technology transfer could have a huge socio-economic impact. “We are keen to cooperate with India in the mission to tap solar energy,” he said.

Mr. Kottayil said a Bavarian business delegation was expected to visit Kerala this year to identify partners. “Ever since Invest-in-Bavaria opened an office in Bangalore, bilateral trade between India and Bavaria has grown significantly, touching two billion Euros. As many as 72 Indian companies have set up shop in Bavaria. From IT and media, our investments have extended to other sectors such as automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. There is a huge market waiting to be tapped on both sides,” he said.

The Bavarian system of industrial growth, Mr. Kottayil explained, is built on a cluster approach and marked by a structured collaboration between science, research, and commerce, know-how transfer, interdisciplinary networks, and the interplay between large, small, and medium-sized enterprises. He said clean energy and skill development, areas in which Bavaria had acquired a significant progress, could prove to be potential sectors for collaboration.

Invest-in-Bavaria is working closely with GTech (Group of Technology Companies), the industry body of software companies in Kerala, to identify partners on either side. GTech is also planning a reciprocal visit to Bavaria later on, its chief executive officer, Binu Shankar, said.

Interest

Mr. Kottayil said the industrial clusters in Bavaria had evinced interest in tying up with companies in Kerala. “Almost 90 per cent of the Bavarian IT companies are mid-sized, employing 50 to 500 people. They will be interested in collaboration with similar firms in Kerala,” he said.

He said the partnership between companies could gradually be expanded to a government-level pact.

The demographic profile of Germany, he said, is marked by a dominant population of the ageing. This is unlike the situation in India where young, talented manpower is available in plenty.