An hour’s PPT presentation was done recently by Mr. Rajesh Nath of VDMA India service in Chennai with Ms. Lisa Eichhorn, Consular Officer of FRG, and Mr. Joachim Kummer, India Projects Manager, NRW. Invest GmbH, and Mr. Golak Misra, India Representative in Pune, presenting a picture on NRW.
It was organised by VDMA India in partnership with NRW Invest. With approximately 18 million, NRW is the most populous State of Germany. Four biggest cities – Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortimund and Essen – are located within the State of top 100 corporations, 37 are based in NRW with a strong base in mechanical & electrical industry), automobile & auto components and chemicals and plastics. Around 11,500 foreign companies from the most important investment countries control their German operations from here.
NRW shares the largest trade with India totalling upto 4.2 billion Euros in 2015. Exports to India have risen to 2.1 billion Euros in 2015. The trend is triggered by machine exports to the tune of 439 million Euros in 2015. Power generating equipments, measurement instruments and metal products are the main exports items during the year. Hence, NRW is a gateway for Indian companies to do business in Germany, and all the 100 companies are located within the State of NRW.
* More than 100 Indian companies now in NRW
* Annual sales of more than Euro 2 billion
* Almost 90 per cent of the employees and sales were generated by Indian companies in NRW having merged with a former German company
* Activities of Indian companies in NRW: 50 per cent sales / marketing / distribution, and 30 per cent services and R&D. 20 per cent manufacturing.
* Forty per cent located in Dusseldorf and Cologne, 35 per cent in the Ruhr area.
* Full-fledged R&D units / innovation and product research centres, e.g., Bharat Forge / Ashok Leyland.
* Service centres / water-front warehousing facilities, e.g., Tata Steel Service Center, Gelsenkirchen.
* Small sales & marketing offices
* Two advantages of M&A – access to proven technology and existing customer base.
A few leading Indian companies in NRW are CDP Bharat Forge GmbH (Ennepetal), Sona BLW Precision Forge Ltd. (2 plants), Albonair GmbH (Dortmund), Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Amtek, and Tata Group : TCS & Tata Steel.