India Switzerland In Focus 2016 by Diplomacy Media

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Contents Ambassador's Message...................................................................................................................................4 India-Switzerland Foreign Secretary Level Talks..............................................................................................6 Presentation of Letters of Credence to His Holiness Pope Francis...................................................................7 Economic Growth of 8-9% Doable: Arun Jaitley with NDTV............................................................................8 President Obama, Davos and After................................................................................................................10 India-Switzerland Relations........................................................................................................................... 11 India - Liechtenstein Relations....................................................................................................................... 15 India-Switzerland Opportunities in Renewable Energy Field..........................................................................16 Annual Solar Power Capacity to Quadruple Next Fiscal Year: Minister Goyal................................................ 19 Meeting with Board Members of Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce.........................................................20 Jamini Roy Exhibition, Museo delle Culture, Lugano August 21, 2015..........................................................21 An Indo-Swiss Life........................................................................................................................................22 Year of Swiss Innovation in India 2015-16.....................................................................................................26 From Science to Entrepreneurship.................................................................................................................28 Skills: For Sustainable Competitive Advantage..............................................................................................31 Efficient Capital Raising on an International Market.......................................................................................34 Naidu’s Visit to Davos Attract Business Leaders............................................................................................36 India Setting up Space Park for Industry in Bengaluru...................................................................................39 Swiss Bank Group Julius Baer Launches Bank in India.................................................................................40 Givaudan Lays the Foundation for New Flavours Facility in Pune, India........................................................41 Adani Ports & Terminal Investment to Jointly Develop a Major Transhipment Hub at Mundra.......................42 Indo-Swiss Joint Research Results Sharing Workshop..................................................................................43 Indo-Swiss Joint Venture - Satarem Enterprises Private Limited...................................................................44 Swiss PE Partners Group to Invest up to $1 Billion on India Over 3-5 Years.................................................46 Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) Project - A Global Manufacturing and Investment Destination ....48 India in Space: Year End Review of ISRO’s Achievements in 2015.................................................................50 Lithium Ion Battery Capability Developing in India........................................................................................53 Skills and Training Based on the Swiss System of Vocational Education and Training...................................54 ABB Energizes First Phase of India’s Most Advanced UHVDC Power Link.....................................................56 ABB Seeks Access to the "Big Transformation"..............................................................................................58 Hilti India - Legacy of 20 Years......................................................................................................................60 India's Technology Vision 2035 – Putting Science to Use.............................................................................62 India to Develop Car Batteries using Spacecraft Technology.........................................................................65 ETH Zurich – Where Einstein Launched His Career.......................................................................................66 Start-ups to Boost India’s Next Wave of Tech Growth....................................................................................67

Published by: Embassy of India Kirchenfeldstrasse 28, CH-3005, Berne, Switzerland Phone: +41.31.3501130 • Fax: +41.31.3511557 Email: hoc.berne@mea.gov.in

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Produced by Krest Publications, New Delhi, India Tel. : 91-11-4653 9323 • Fax : 91-11-4610 5603 • Email: editor@diplomacy.in Editor: Harun Riaz • Project Co-ordinator: R. K. Verma • Marketing: Ajit Thakur • Layout: Hari Sharma • Printing: Rave India Disclaimer: 'India-Switzerland in Focus' is a special publication. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the position of the Embassy of India, Berne, Switzerland or the Government of India. The magazine has no commercial value and is not for sale. It is for private circulation only.

Ambassador's Desk

AMBASSADOR OF INDIA BERNE

India-Switzerland Ties: Upward Trajectory

s we prepare to celebrate India’s Republic Day in 2016, we welcome Krest Publications’ initiative to issue a special publication spotlighting Indo-Swiss relations. India and Switzerland established diplomatic relations in 1948. In 2008, the two countries celebrated the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Indo-Swiss Friendship Treaty. In 2015, the Swiss Consulate celebrated its centenary and the Swiss Business Hub - 75 years of its establishment in Mumbai. In 2015, the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, set up with Swiss collaboration, celebrated its diamond jubilee.

Ms. Smita Purushottam

Relations between India and Switzerland continue on their upward trajectory. Switzerland is the 10th largest investor in India with over 200 Swiss companies having invested over US$ 3 billion in India. Total trade between the two countries, including bullion exports from Switzerland, amounted to over US$ 22 billion in 2014. 2015 witnessed enhanced bilateral exchanges, with the Vice-President of the Swiss Federal Council and Federal Councilor for Economy, Education and Research, H.E. Mr. Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, leading an Economic and Innovation Mission to India, while a delegation led by Mr. Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister, visited Switzerland in January, 2015 as well as 2016 for the WEF meeting. The Joint Economic Commission and the Joint Committee on Science and Technology was also held in 2015.

Switzerland is celebrating 2015-16 as the year of Swiss Innovation in India which opens up fresh opportunities for partnerships in cutting-edge areas. Switzerland ranked No. 1 in the Global Innovation Index for the fourth year in a row and was also ranked as the world’s most competitive economy by the World Economic Forum. India has set a target of 175GW of renewable energy by 2022 out of which 100 GW will be composed of solar energy. Switzerland has a host of advanced renewable energy technologies including in hydro-power and battery storage which

India-S w itz erland i n F o c u s 20 16

Ambassador's Desk

can be a game-changer in the development of Smart Villages and Smart Cities in India. The Swiss Vocational Education and Training system is one of the best in the world with even America seeking Swiss know-how in this area. It is the key to the low unemployment rate in Switzerland as well as its advanced manufacturing capabilities. This is an area where there is enormous possibility for transfer of knowhow and the vocational education ecosystem to India. Further, Switzerland enjoys the second highest per capita consumption of railway travel in the world and a strong partnership between the countries in the upgradation and development of Indian Railways is another area of existing and potential cooperation. Switzerland has some of the world’s best R&D institutes and technology universities which can partner with India’s IITs and engineering institutes for mutual benefit. Indian IT software companies are actively contributing to the next technological frontier through the Internet of Things. Finally, there is enormous potential for cooperation between the two countries in the tourism sphere such as adoption of a hill State by Switzerland which we intend to explore in the coming months and years. Swiss capabilities thus form a perfect complement to India’s plans to further stimulate and upgrade economic and technological growth through the Make in India, Skill India, Digital India, Smart Cities & Smart Villages, Clean India and Renewable Energy programmes. Enormous opportunities are opening up in India which is today one of the fastest growing large economies in the world. India has begun to attract massive FDI inflows following the proactive measures taken to facilitate doing business in India. There are new possibilities for expanding and diversifying cooperation, but a special effort needs to be made to attract Swiss SMEs that comprise over 95% of the economy - to India. We stand ready to extend a helping hand. As time goes on, we shall discover more areas for cooperation between the two countries. We have an 18,000 strong and prosperous Indian Diaspora in Switzerland which is also committed to strengthen the bilateral relationship and enhance awareness of Indian opportunities, capabilities and culture. I greatly appreciate the initiative by Krest Publications to focus on India-Switzerland relations, hoping that it will help to expand mutual awareness of the possibilities for advancing the relationship.

(Ms. Smita Purushottam)

India-S w it zerland in Focus 2016

India-Switzerland Foreign Secretary Level Talks Dr. S. Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary of India, visited Switzerland on 11 September, 2015 to hold talks with Mr. Yves Rossier, State Secretary and his counterpart in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and Mrs. Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch, State Secretary and Director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of the Swiss Confederation. The talks were productive and underlined the desire of both parties to open up new areas for cooperation.

India-S w i t z e rla n d i n F o c u s 20 16

Presentation of Letters of Credence to His Holiness Pope Francis

t was a great honour and spiritually uplifting to present the Letters of Credence to His Holiness Pope Francis. He has spread the message of goodness and humility through personal example and through his messages. His Encyclical Letter Laudato Si: Care for our Common Home, is an eloquent plea to save our planet from the ravages of climate change and is based on scientific study. It accords very much with India's position as enunciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP21, and Mahatma Gandhi's observation that the earth may have enough for everyone's need, but it cannot accommodate everyone's greed. His Holiness does not live in the beautiful Vatican, but has shifted to a more austere residence outside. He mingles among the ordinary people and carries the message of peace and love to different corners of the world. India hopes for stronger relations with the Holy See which represents more than a billion people.

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

India @ WEF 2016

Economic Growth of 8-9% Doable: Arun Jaitley with NDTV

Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley participating in the World Economic Forum organized event by NDTV at Davos on January 20, 2016

avos: With global headwinds hitting emerging markets as well, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on January 20, 2016 said volatility had become a global norm, but India could certainly grow at 8-9 per cent in a friendlier global climate. The view was echoed by business leaders from India and other countries here at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting even as they felt that not "all perfect storms" in the world today would hit the Indian economy. "Certainly, the world is facing a difficult and challenging situation. I don't think we are going into extreme conditions because there is predictability but volatility today is the norm and no country is immune to it," Mr. Jaitley said. Admitting that exports have shrunk, currencies and stock markets are impacted, Mr Jaitley said at a panel discussion here on the India growth story that the government is always trying to prepare itself to meet such challenges.

India-S w i t z e rla n d i n F o c u s 20 16

"The fact is we are (the) fastest growing economy, but we can do much better. Given a better climate and global situation, we can do much better. In a friendly global environment, we can do it (8-9 per cent). " "We had two bad monsoons while domestic and global issues impacted several sectors and that in turn has impacted banks. We are growing at 7-7.5 per cent. In a more favourable environment, getting an extra 1-1.5 per cent is not difficult," he said. "Oil prices have helped us re-plan the government expenditure. One of the biggest reforms that have happened today is rationalisation of subsidies," the minister further said. Speaking in the same session, noted economist Nouriel Roubini, widely known as 'Dr Doom' because of his earlier predictions, said he did not see a global financial crisis like that of 2008 imminent, but there were risks on several fronts and there are "many perfect storms". "There are proxy wars in various

parts of the world. Fall in oil prices should be a positive for the global economy, but the reality is it is leading to sharp negative reactions in various markets, including in India," he added. He said falling commodity prices were a net positive for India, but low oil prices also presented a risk to its growth. On the positive side, overall the macro factors put India on a positive path, compared with its position a couple of years ago, and then there has been "good luck" in terms of falling commodity prices and "the government should push ahead with its reform initiatives in various areas". Apart from investments in human capital and steps to safeguard agriculture and irrigation from weather volatility, there are various areas where work should be done, he said. Industrialist Sunil Mittal said not all of these perfect storms would negatively impact India.

Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley addressing the CII BCG Breakfast Session on "India - The Next Growth Engine for the World?" on January 21, 2016

"Obviously, India cannot be an island in itself and there would indeed be some impact, but the government is also well aware of that and steps would be taken." " I re m a i n o p t i m i s t i c a b o u t India, principally because of entrepreneurial energy that I see in the country. FDI is on a high and it is rising. I have a lot of people who say they are very keen to invest and I am sure the FDI levels would rise significantly, going ahead," he said. He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a tremendous liking among the business community and what he should do is to call top 100 industrialists to his room and tell them to invest in the country. "Ease of doing business is already a major agenda for the government, but still there are some issues that remain pending and hopefully, they would be addressed in the upcoming Budget," he added. Cisco's John Chambers said he also remains optimistic about robust growth in India. "A million new jobs per month is ver y much doable in the country. There will be a new generation of start-ups. Cisco is doubling down again in India. " "India should not miss the chance to tap its growth opportunities and it should ideally lead the fourth industrial revolution," he added. Foreseeing a huge potential for start-ups in India, Mr. Jaitley also said the freedom from the government is a must and the first condition for them is to prosper. "As far as the conventional

Finance Minister of India, Mr. Arun Jaitley meeting Mr. Ueli Maurer, Minister for Finance of the Swiss Confederation at Davos, Alps, Switzerland

economy is concerned, the results (of government initiatives) will surely show up. " On new IT start-up companies, he said they should be allowed to grow uninterrupted. "I personally feel why Indian IT in a natural course grew earlier was because there were no laws regulating it," he said, recalling the robust IT sector bloom that India saw in 1980s and 1990s. Noting that things today have changed, Mr. Jaitley said that for the recent start-up event, "we got requests far exceeding the number of participants we had planned". "There is a huge potential for India. One of the first conditions that is required is freedom from the state," he said. " T h e re s h o u l d n o t b e a ny intervention from the central or state governments. We need to create an environment for making capital available to them. States have a big role. The start-up campaign is one campaign."

"The other campaign that is going to be implemented in the next few months is extending support to the deprived sections of society to turn entrepreneurs," he added. Mr. Mittal noted that India could not create any Google, Facebook or Cisco although China could do so by blocking a large number of foreign companies. "But Indian entrepreneurs have found another way and now they are creating OyoRooms on the line of BnB while Ola is fighting Uber," he added. "It is a year of opportunity and challenges....," Mr Jaitley said. Mr Chambers said 2016 would be a year when India will break its base. Mr Mittal also said 2016 would a year of India. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who was in the audience, said his state was ready to contribute funds towards the national digitisation programme and promised full support on all fronts, including broadband.

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

India @ WEF 2016

President Obama, Davos and After By Arun Jaitley Minister of Finance American CEOs exhibited a strong confidence about India. The desire of American businesses to invest in India was great. Their queries related essentially to the ease of doing business in India. With the American economy growing stronger, US corporates are flush with funds looking to invest elsewhere. India appears high on their agenda. Both internal and external factors favour India. The United States is undoubtedly the principal engine of global economic growth. Its growth rate is moving up. Brazil, South Africa and Europe are facing challenges. China has realistically accepted that 7 per cent growth rate is their new normal. The IMF considers this figure as more than normal.

he World Economic Forum’s Meet at Davos was one with a difference. India had the second largest contingent next only to that of the United States. For the past few years serious doubts had been expressed about India and its economic potential. It was placed as a member of the “fragile five”. “I” was in danger of falling off from the BRICS. Both within and outside India there was despondency. This year the environment was entirely different. After 30 years the Indian electorate had voted a Government with a single party majority. India’s Prime Minister was being described as a strong, decisive and a proreform leader. The four important ordinances relating to land,insurance, coal and mining have demonstrated India’s determination towards reforms. Investors were looking at

India-S w i t z e rla n d i n F o c u s 20 16

India with greater enthusiasm. The India focussed meetings were overattended. Many who wanted to register for these meetings were disappointed at the fact that they could not get entry. Government leaders, policy makers, heads of major corporations were engaging with India. Our own industrialists were attending the conferences with a renewed sense of confidence with their heads held high. The optimism was, however, tempered with caution. Will India be able to deliver what it has promised? Will all these ordinances translate into law? Will the obstructionists be able to derail India’s march? Many questions centered around this skepticism. President Barack Obama’s visit to India has helped forge a new commercial relationship with India. The conclave of Indian and

The oil price decline has favoured India as a net buyer. With a reform oriented Government in place, India’s policy to move upwards in near future is rated high. States are competing with each other for higher growth. Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu and Mr. Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra were aggressively m a r ke t i n g t h e i r s t a t e s fo r investment in Davos. India needs more resources. Our domestic resources are not adequate. The cost of our capital is high. The world is looking to invest. There are not too many options which are more attractive than India. Whereas most competing economies are facing serious challenges, India is promising to accelerate its growth. Hope has revisited us. We cannot allow obstructionism or complacency to squander this opportunity. This is a loud and clear message from Davos. "

Bilateral Ties

India-Switzerland Relations Source: Embassy of India

Political Relations India and Switzerland have had cordial and friendly relations since India’s independence. The relationship is based on shared values of democracy, multiculturalism and the rule of law. Independent India’s policy of non-alignment and Switzerland’s traditional policy of neutrality helped to develop a close understanding between the leaders of the two countries. A Treaty of Friendship between India and Switzerland was signed at New Delhi on August 14, 1948, one of the first such treaties to be signed by the independent India. The Treaty provided for the establishment of diplomatic missions between the two countries and missions were opened in Berne and Delhi soon after its conclusion. Switzerland established its Consulates General in Mumbai and Bangalore. India has a Consulate General in Geneva. During the course of 2008, India and Switzerland celebrated the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Friendship Treaty, an important milestone in the annals of Indo-Swiss bilateral relations. In recognition of the growth of multi-faceted bilateral relationship over six decades and to outline the future areas of mutual interest and cooperation, India and Switzerland have decided to elevate the bilateral relationship to a new and higher level by agreeing to establish a Privileged Partnership between them. High Level Visits Exchange of high level visits in the recent past has provided an impetus to strengthen bilateral cooperation. The visit of the then Swiss President, Mr. Flavio

Cotti in 1998 was the first ever visit of a Swiss President to India. Later, President of the Swiss Confederation, Mr. Pascal Couchepin, paid a State Visit to India from 6-12 November, 2003. The last high-level visit to India has been that of the Swiss President, Mrs. Micheline Calmy-Rey from 5-7 November, 2007. After the State Visit of President, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, in May 2005, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of India visited Switzerland from September 30 to October 4, 2011. In addition, there have been regular bilateral ministerial exchanges. Mr. Johann SchneiderAmman, Federal Councillor for Economic Affairs, Education and Research, visited India from 15-17 May, 2015, leading an economic mission of 25 business representatives, federal and cantonal officials and Members of Parliament. In Delhi he had meetings with Hon’ble Finance Minister, MOS (IC) for Commerce & Industries and the MOS (I/C) fo r S k i l l D eve l o p m e n t a n d Entrepreneurship. He also attended a business meeting arranged by FICCI. He also visited Bangalore where he officially launched the CTI Market entry, an initiative of the Swiss Government’s Mission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) and managed by Swissnex India and aimed at encouraging Swiss start-ups to enter the Indian market. Swiss Federal Councillor for Economic Affairs Mr. Johann N. Schneider Ammann visited India from 7-9 April, 2011, along with a high level business delegation. Swiss Federal Councillor Alain Berset visited India from October 1-3, 2012 and met Minister of Health

& Family Welfare Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister of Culture Kumari Selja and Minister of S&T, Mr. Vayalar Ravi to expand scope of bilateral cooperation in health, culture and S&T. Swiss Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard visited India from October 18-20, 2012 primarily to represent Switzerland at the UN Conference on Biological Diversity in Hyderabad. She met Smt. Jayanti Natarajan, Minister for Environment & Forests; Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New & Renewable Energy; Mr. C .P. Joshi, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Mr. Kamal Nath, Minister of Urban Development; and Mr. Ajit Singh, Minister for Civil Aviation and discussed issues of mutual interest and cooperation. A Protocol to the revised Double Taxation Agreement was also signed between the two countries during the visit of Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey in August 2010, which entered into force on 7th October, 2011. Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter visited India from December 11-12, 2013 in connection with ASEMFMs Meeting in New Delhi. During this visit, Mr. Burkhalter made a courtesy call on EAM. From Indian side, there have been several important ministerial visits. Mr. Kamal Nath, Minister for Road Transport & Highways led a 5-member delegation to Switzerland on 11-12 August, 2009. A 4-member delegation led by Minister of Textiles, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran, visited Switzerland from 25-28 October, 2009. An 18-member Indian Parliamentary Goodwill delegation led by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal visited Switzerland from 1-4 April, 2010. Smt. Meira Kumar, Speaker, Lok Sabha, led an delegation to Switzerland from 16-17 July, 2010 to attend the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) Sixth Annual Meeting of Women

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Bilateral Ties Speakers of Parliament in Berne. Later, she visited Berne to participate in the 125th IPU Meeting from 16-19 October, 2011. An Investment Round Table was held in Geneva on 8 April 2013 during the visit of Mr. Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce & Industry. Minister of State (IC) for Sports & Youth Affairs Mr. Jitender Singh visited Lausanne from 14-15 May 2013 in connection with the meetings with the International Olympic Committee. The Indian delegation led by EAM Mr. Salman Khurshid participated at the Geneva II Conference on Syria held in Montreux on January 22, 2014. Hon’ bl e Speaker of L ok Sabha, Smt. Sumitra Mahajan, led a high-level Parliamentary delegation to the 131st session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, held in Geneva from 12-16 October 2014. The delegation included Prof. P. J. Kurien, Hon’ble Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha and five MPs, apart from senior officials of Parliament Secretariat. Earlier, Hon’ble Speaker had visited Geneva for attending the 9th Annual Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament from 4 & 5 September 2014. Mr. Shaktikanta Das, Revenue Secretary, led an Indian delegation to Switzerland on 15 October 2014 for talks on information sharing on tax issues with the Swiss State Secretary for Finance, Mr. Jacques de Watteville. The Secretary of the International State Council Sectt. , Mr. H. K. Dash, visited Bern and Lenzburg in Switzerland from 15-19 March, 2015 for participation in the Board meeting of the forum of federations. Mr. Ajit Mohan Sharan, Secretary, D/o Sports visited Head Quarters of IOC in Lausanne (Switzerland) from 2325 March, 2015 for working out the modalities for the proposed meeting of the delegation led by Mr. Thomas Bach, President, International Olympic Committee (IOC) with Hon’ble PM of India on 27 April, 2015 to discuss PM’s vision on developing sports in India. High-level Indian delegations have participated in the World Economic Forum (WEF) since the early 90s. At

India-S w i t z e rla n d i n F o c u s 20 16

WEF 2014 (January 2014), the official Indian delegation was led by Mr. P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister. Other members of Indian delegation were: (i) Mr. Kamal Nath, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development, (ii) Mr. Anand Sharma, Minister for Commerce & Industry; (iii) Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of State for Power; (iv) Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Chairman, Planning Commission and (v) Mr. Prithviraj Chavan, CM, Maharashtra. A strong representation from the Indian industry and a delegation from Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) also participated at the Forum. On the sidelines of WEF, Swiss Economy Minister Johann N. Schneider-Ammann and Mr. Anand Sharma, CIM, held a bilateral meeting on 22 January 2014. At earlier occasions, Mr.Anand Sharma had visited Switzerland on 2425 March, 2011 for BaselWorld 2011, during which he also visited Berne for a bilateral meeting with his counterpart Mr. Johann N. Schneider Ammann. At WEF 2015 (January, 2015), the official Indian delegation led by Mr. Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Finance Minister, accompanied by Mr. Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble MOS (I/C) for Power, Coal and NRE and Mr. Devendra G. Fadnavis, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra, attended the WEF meeting. Mr. N. Chandra Babu Naidu, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh also attended the WEF meeting as an invitee and so did Secretary (IPP), DIPP, M/o Commerce and Industries, Chief Economic Advisor, D/o Economic Affairs. Indian industry had a huge presence with 99 Indian companies attending amongst which 55 were represented at the top level. IBEF’s ‘Make in India ’ lounge was a huge hit with a number of meetings taking place at the venue. CII also had strong representation at the meeting. On the sidelines of the WEF 2015, Hon’ble Finance Minister had bilateral meetings with Swiss Federal Councillor

of Finance, Mr. Eveline WidmerSchlumpf and Federal Councillor of Economy, Mr. Johann SchneiderAmmann. Hon’ble Finance Minister also had bilateral meetings with Queen Maxima of Netherlands, Prime Minister of New Zealand, Mr. John Key, US Secretary of Treasury and British Chancellor of Exchanquer. He also had bilateral meeting with the Chiefs of several multi-national companies and banks. Mr. Piyush Goyal, MOS (I/C) for Power, Coal and NRE had bilateral meeting with Federal Councillor for the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications, Ms. Doris Leuthard. The Indian delegation also attended an “India-Investment round table” facilitated by CII and attended by a large number of corporates and company representatives. India has been participating regularly at annual trade exhibitions held in Basel and Geneva. India was the guest country at Geneva Festival in August 2011. In April 2012, India participated at the MUBA Fair in Basel as the guest country. The Swiss Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer was present at the inauguration of India Pavilion at MUBA 2012. In March 2015, India participated at MUBA Fair under the aegis of ITPO and in the BASELWORLD 2015 under the aegis of GJEPC respectively. Bilateral Institutional Arrangements [i] Foreign Office Consultations ( F O C ) b e g a n i n J a nu a r y 1996. Since then, eight rounds of consultations have been held alternately in Berne and New Delhi in February 2000, January 2003, September 2005, November, 2006, January, 2008, December, 2009 and December, 2012 respectively. The last FOC at Joint Secretary level was held in New Delhi on November 17/18, 2014. [ii] Indo-Swiss Joint Economic

Bilateral Ties Bilateral Trade (In Million Swiss Francs) Year India’s Exports India’s Imports Total Trade

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

800.1 2156.1 2956.2

1010.4 2156.4 3166.8

1303.4 2986.4 4289.8

1400 2600 4000

1524 2010 3534

1615.4 1742.0 3357.4

Commission was set up in 1959 to intensify economic and commercial relations. The 13th session of JEC meeting was held in New Delhi from October 4-5, 2012. The 14th Session of JEC was held in New Delhi on 14 May, 2015, co-chaired by Mr. Dammu Ravi, Joint Secretary (FT-Europe), M/o Commerce & Industries from Indian side and Mrs. Livia Leu Agosti, Head of the Bilateral Economic Relations at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. [iii] S w i s s - I n d i a C h a m b e r o f Commerce was set up in 1985 in Zurich. It regularly holds seminars, symposia and meetings to promote investments, trade and business in both the countries. In July 2009, SICC signed two separate MOUs with CII and FICCI. An Investment Round Table was organized by CII and SICC in Geneva in April 2013. [iv] Indo-Swiss Joint Committee on S&T: 1st Meeting of the Indo-Swiss Joint Committee on S&T was held on 23 September, 2011 in Berne. The main objective of the meeting was to assess the ongoing S&T cooperation between India and Switzerland under the Indo-Swiss Joint Research Programme. On October 1, 2012, the Committee held discussions in New Delhi. [v] India-Switzerland Financial Dialogue: The MoU was signed on October 3, 2011 during the State Visit. The first Financial Dialogue was held in Berne on July 6, 2012. Indian delegation was led by Mr.

Gopalan, Secretary, DEA and the Swiss delegation was led by Amb. Michael Ambuhl. The second Financial Dialogue was held in New Delhi in June 2013. [vi] An MoU on Mutual Cooperation in Local Governance:The MoU was signed between India and Switzerland on 12 December, 2011. [vii] An MoU between Indian Ministry of Power and Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation was signed on 8 November, 2011 for cooperation in energy efficiency. [viii] An MoU establishing the ‘Rabindranath Tagore Chair’ on Indian Studies was signed on October 4, 2011. The second session of Tagore Chair on Hindi language was successfully completed at University of Lausanne from January-June 2 0 1 3 . T h e t h i rd s e s s i o n (January-June 2014) is just over, for which ICCR had deputed a professor. [ix] B esides the above , India and Switzerland have signed Agreements on Promotion and Protection of Investments, Air Services, Collaboration in Biotechnology and Cooperation in Disaster Management. [x] A n M o U w a s s i g n e d i n February 2012 between the Indian Council of Social Science Research and the University of Lausanne, for institutional cooperation. Commercial Relations Commercial contacts between India and Switzerland date back to the early 19th century when in 1851 the Volkart Trading Co. established its offices in Basel and Mumbai. It

2015 Jan.-Nov. 1171 1608 2779

expanded its network, diversifying its activities in India, soon becoming the backbone of Switzerland ’s economic presence in India. The Indo-Swiss Treaty of Friendship laid the foundation for a strong economic content to the bilateral relationship. Article 3 to 6 of this Treaty secured the “most favoured foreign nation treatment” to Switzerland. As provided by the Treaty itself, it has set the pace for further treaties like Double Taxation Treaty in November, 1994, followed by Amendment to protocol in 2010, Promotion and Protection of Investment Treaty in July 1997. The first major investment by Swiss companies in India came in mid-50s. Switzerland is an important trading partner for India outside the EU. India’s merchandise exports have more than doubled from 2009 to 2014. India exported goods worth CHF 800. 1 million in 2009 which grew to CHF 1615.4 in 2014. According to details by the Swiss Customs, bilateral Trade was at CHF 3357.4 million in 2014 (calendar year – January to December) showing a decline by 5% over 2013, with Swiss exports to India showing a decline by 13.3% to a total of CHF 1742 million in 2014 as against CHF 2010 million in 2013. However, India’s exports to Switzerland continued to grow by 6% in 2014 over the previous year (CHF 1615 million against CHF 1524 million in 2013). India’s export figures to Switzerland given by Swiss Customs does not include the figures of Indian Software and services exports. Similarly, Swiss export figures does not include bullion as well as war material exports to India. According to Electronic & Computer Software Export promotion Council, during 2013-14 India exported Computer Software and Services to Switzerland worth USD 201.11 million as compared to USD 369.86 in 2012-13

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Bilateral Ties and USD 433.98 million in 201112. India’s export of Electronic Hardware was USD 34. 90 in 2013-14 as compared to USD 56.57 million in 2012-13. In 2014 Swiss exports of bullion was to the value of CHF 17.55 billion in 2014, as against CHF 21.9 billion in 2013. Indo-Swiss bilateral trade stands over 3. 5 billion (excluding software, IT services and bullion) in 2013, showing a decline by 15% over 2012. The Swiss-India bilateral trade nearly tripled from USD 1.6 billion in 2004 to USD 4. 5 billion in 2011. Swiss exports to India has declined in recent years due to adverse currency rate movements and slowdown in the Indian economy. While Swiss exports to India has declined in the first three quarters of 2014, the Indian exports to the Alpine nation continued to soar in 2012 and 2013, as also in the first three quarters of 2014. The balance of trade has remained in fovour of Switzerland. The major items of Indian exports to Switzerland are textiles and garments, organic chemicals, precious stones and jewellery, dyestuffs, machinery and parts, leather products, shoes and shoe uppers, cotton, plastics, coffee, tea and hand-knotted carpets. Besides bullion, Swiss exports to India consist of pharmaceuticals, machinery, transport equipments, chemical products and watches. From April 2000 to Feb. 2015, Switzerland invested approximately USD 3040 million in India, thus becoming the tenth largest investor. As a large part of foreign direct investment in India, is routed through other countries, the actual Swiss direct investment in India is much higher, the overall Swiss investment inflows into India could be pegged at above USD 5 billion till June 2014. More than 200 Swiss companies have presence in India through their own subsidiaries and joint ventures. Most of the Swiss multinational companies like ABB,

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Novartis, Roche UBS and Credit Suisse etc. have their offshore software development projects with major Indian companies or through their subsidiary operations in India. Pharma companies headquartered in Switzerland viz. , Novartis, Roche have been expanding their activities in India. As per Switzerland government data, Swiss enterprises have created over one lakh jobs in India. Indian companies invested USD 1.2 billion between 2012 and 2014 in Switzerland, placing it among the top five European investment destinations and top-ten places globally for Indian investors. Major Indian IT companies including TCS, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, etc. provide services to major pharma companies, banks and insurance firms. Recently, Swiss luxury goods firm Lux was taken over by Eureka Forbes and earlier in 2010 M/s. Steiner, a construction company was taken over HCC Ltd. At their meeting in Davos on 26 January 2008, Commerce/ Trade Ministers from India and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA, which includes Iceland, L i e c h t e n s t e i n , N o r w ay a n d Switzerland, agreed to launch negotiations on a comprehensive Trade and Investment Agreement as per the recommendations of the Joint EFTA-India Study Group established on 1 December 2006. 13 rounds of India-EFTA trade negotiations have been held, latest being in November, 2013 in New Delhi. Cultural Relations At the Luzern Travel Expo 2014, held from 31 Oct to 2 Nov. 2014, “India- !ndia” was the Guest theme with participation of India Tourism, Paris. Workshops and performances of Indian dance, yoga, etc. and stalls of Indian Ayurvedic and herbal products, spices, textiles, and Indian food were arranged at the Expo. About 23000 visitors visited the Indian stalls.

A performance and lecturedemonstration on Kathak was organised in Zurich on May 16 2014 by an ICCR sponsored 6-member Kathak troupe led by Ms Rujuta Soman to Switzerland. A 10-member Kathak Dance troupe, led by Smt. Aruna Kelkar from Pune based “Niritya Bharti Academy” and sponsored by ICCR visited Switzerland between 2426 March, 2015 and showcased its performances in Berne and Zurich). The shows were well received. The International Day of Yoga (IDY) was celebrated on 21 June, 2015 at Waisenhausplatz in the City Centre of Berne and in Culture Centre, Gasometer, Liechtenstein with participation of about 100 and 30 participants respectively. In other Swiss cities like Zurich, Berne and Baden, mass yoga practices were also held under the aegis of different Yoga schools where about 30-40 people participated in each place. At Berne event, Mrs. Von Sury-Thomas Susan, a PIO and Member of Legislative Assembly, Canton of Solothurn, participated. Indian Community The Indian community in Switzerland comprises of approximately 18,000 Indians including over 6300 persons of Indian origin (Swiss passport holders). Most of them are professionals in Engineering, IT, pharmaceuticals and paramedical fields. Few are deployed in the International Organisations like UN, UPU and other prestigious Swiss institutes like Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich and EPFL, Lausanne. The Indian community is concentrated in Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Baden, Berne and Lausanne in that order. A number of Indian associations actively organise cultural activities and celebrate Indian national days. An Honorary Consul General of India is based in Zurich.

Bilateral Ties

India - Liechtenstein Relations Source: Embassy of India

ndia and the Principality of Liechtenstein established diplomatic relations in 1993. The Ambassador of India to Switzerland, resident in Berne, is concurrently a c c re d i t e d a s A m b a s s a d o r of India to the Principality of Liechtenstein. Despite its small size , Liechtenstein assumes importance on account of its membership of UN and other International Organisations as well as of European Economic Area and EFTA (Switzerland, Norway and Iceland). High level visits In the first ever high level official visit from either side, H. S. H. Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein, accompanied by his spouse HRH Princess Sophie and 11-member official delegation and 10-member business delegation visited India from 14-20 November, 2010 at the invitation of Hon’ble Vice-President of India. During the visit, Prince Alois met President Smt. Pratibha Patil, Vice-President Mr. Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, UPA Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition Smt. Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State , MEA Smt. Preneet Kaur. The delegation visited the India International Trade Fair in Delhi. Prince Hans Adam II had toured India a few years ago on a private visit. Along with Prince Alois Prince Hans Adam II again paid a private visit to India from

October 13-19, 2013 in connection with various business meetings of M/s Savannah Seeds Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon. Some Liechtenstein companies like Umicore Materials AG, have their presence in India. M/s HILTI Corporation, manufacturers of tools and equipments for the construction industry, has representation in around 120 countries worldwide, including India. Liechtenstein is one of the four members of the EFTA, a group with which India has commenced negotiations for an India-EFTA bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (TIA). An Indian delegation led by Mr. Rajiv Kher, Additional Secretar y in the Ministry of Commerce, visited Vaduz, Liechtenstein from 23-24 January 2012, to attend Chief Negotiators' Meeting of India-EFTA BTIA Negotiations. On March 28, 2013, India and Liechtenstein signed the Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) in Berne. After ratification by both sides, the Agreement entered into force on January 20, 2014. The cultural performance by a troupe sponsored by ICCR was well received in Balzers on June 9, 2011. The first-ever Indian Film Festival was inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister for Foreign Affairs and Culture Mrs. Aurelia Frick on 16 November, 2011 in Vaduz. The

festival showcased popular Indian films for a week. India Club Liechtenstein organized an India festival in Vaduz and its suburb from 24-28 March, 2015 with the support of Indian Embassy in Bern, ICCR, Govt. of Liechtenstein and other local institutions. As part of the festival, an art exhibition and workshop, seminar on tourism and culture, yoga classes, a business round table on ‘Make-in-India’ and a Kathak dance show were held. The festival was inaugurated by the Ambassador along with Mr. Kerstin Appel, Secretary of Ministry of Culture of Liechtenstein on 24 March, 2015. ICCR had sponsored a 10-member Kathak Dance troupe; led by Smt. Aruna Kelkar from Pune based “Niritya Bharti Academy” which held a show and a Kathak workshop in Triesen (Liechtenstein) on 27 & 28 March, 2015. The Kathak show was also attended by the Liechtenstein Minister for Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and C u l t u re , D r. ( M r s . ) A u re l i a Frick. The Liechtenstein Minister also attended the yoga classes. All the shows/programme were well attended and appreciated. International Day of Yoga (IDY) was celebrated with great gusto and enthusiasm at the Culture Centre, Gasometer, Liechtenstein with about 30 participants. The print and visual media covered the event in their regular news-bulletins.

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Minister's Address

India-Switzerland Opportunities in Renewable Energy Field India's Minister of State (with Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy, Mr. Piyush Goyal via video conferencing addressed a Symposium on Swiss India Renewable Energy on November 19, 2015, which was held at Rolex Learning Center, EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland excellent opportunity not only for business but also for our shared concerns to address the problems of climate change. There is a very complementary mix between the world’s largest renewable energy market today and probably one of the world’s most capital surplus countries that Switzerland is.

Minister of State (with Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy, Mr. Piyush Goyal addressed Swiss-India Renewable Energy Symposium via video conferencing

am delighted to know about the Swiss India Renewable Energ y Symposium being held in Switzerland and like to congratulate Dr. Pankaj Agarwal, chairman of the SIREN Symposium and Ms. Smita Purushottam, the Indian Ambassador to Switzerland and all other team members from the organization like SwissIndia Business Forum, Office of Energy and other distinguished persons who are associated with this Symposium. My very best wishes for its grand success. I am unfortunately not able to join you on this occasion but my colleagues will be there and I am sure all of you together will come up with a framework which will help strengthen and further

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relations between Switzerland and India, particularly in the renewable energy field. I think it is ver y important to recognize the importance of innovation, research and development, and a symposium being held at the Innovation Park by the Swiss Institute of Technology which I believe is among the world’s most premier technology universities - is most appropriate. I am sure SIREN will bring together innovation from Switzerland, may be capital also from your country, in the vast Indian opportunity, the big market that India provides, particularly in the renewable energy space. When we put all these together it provides for an

I am sure this platform that you have created will bring together different stakeholders - business-Industry players, financiers, decision makers, policy makers, and representatives of research and development. I am sure when everyone comes together on one platform, new ideas will germinate,new thoughts will come up. I would certainly very much look forward to receiving the outcomes of this Symposium, particularly the learnings that come out of it which will help us further develop our renewable energy program in a more sustainable manner. I am sure the focus of the Symposium, amongst other things, will also be on bringing the cost of solar energy down to more affordable levels. I would think it is very critical that we reach grid parity of renewable energy also and our recent bidding procurement of solar power through a reverse bidding process has discovered a very attractive price of about 7 US cents. I am fairly confident that in the years to come we will see more and more solar power becoming available at very attractive prices. Higher productivity, lower cost of capital

Minister's Address innovation, new technologies-all of these I think can help to bring together a package which will make renewable energy, particularly solar most affordable. As you are all aware, India has taken a very leadership role in addressing the concerns of climate change and the renewable energy program of achieving an installed capacity base of 175GW is unprecedented in world history. Going forward, we plan to invest and set up 100 GW of solar energy and another 60 GW of wind power in which we already have about 23 GW, so will be adding another 35-37 GW; and then we will have about 5000 MW of hydropower, about 10000 MW of biomass and other associated forms of energy. Overall, this 175 GW of renewable energy probably provides the world’s largest business opportunity in this space available today.

• We also allow liberal borrowing of foreign currency loans to invest in renewable energy. All in all, the effort of the Govt. is to play the role of an enabler to ensure the success of this massive project that we have undertaken. • The Govt. is also supporting renewable energy through a clean energy cess. We apply a cess of about US$ 3.30 on every tone of coal that is produced in the country and that goes into a National Clean Energy Fund which will then be used to provide enabling infrastructure sometime some affirmatives, subsidy support for the green energy and renewable energy to prosper in India.

Of course, we as policy makers as well as Govt. of India are addressing typical concerns of investors. • We are ensuring that land is available. • If approved about 25 solar parks where land will be made available. • Green energy corridors will be set up to evacuate the power through dedicated transmission corridors. • We are ensuring counter party risks are addressed particularly, by introducing AAA companies like NTPC, India’s largest power utility owned by the Govt. of India or Solar Energy Corporation of India to procure the power, thereby almost eliminating any counter party risk, bringing down the cost of debt particularly in an environment where overall Indian debt now is available cheaper. • We also permit foreign direct investment upto 100% in this space.

As we plan, we may easily look at a bid process of about 15 GW particularly in solar coming out every year in the next 4 or 5 years which will really help us to scale up this project, and coupled with this bidding we are ensuring adequate availability of the enabling infrastructure - also land, transmission (etc). We a r e f o c u s i n g o n s k i l l development. We see a million jobs being created out of this massive roll out of renewable energy. We have a Sectorial Skill Council which is focusing on developing future engineers for the renewable energy sector and, of course, distribution companies in India are also undergoing a massive financial restricting which will make our distribution companies much stronger, improve the offtake of renewable energy, particularly on

the back of policy interventions where we are mandating that in the years to come renewable energy will form a significant portion of every distribution company’s energy purchase. In fact, we are proposing to mandate approx. 8% of the total energy consumed by distribution companies should be through renewable energy sources by 2022 and we are fairly confident that all these initiatives put together will help us truly create a world class infrastructure and promote renewable energy in a very big way. We are also making regulatory interventions to encourage large scale roll-out of the installed renewable energy base, particularly, as a supplement to fossil fuel based power plants that are coming up. Also the regulatory commissions at the federal level, at each of the States level, is setting up the requisite framework which will help renewable energy be rolled out much faster including feed in tariffs to encourage waste to wealth and waste to energy plans. Feed in tariffs in initial period for hydro projects, cost plus basis tariffs for hydro projects, for wind energy projects until we can at a later stage take them also to the bidding process. I am delighted to inform the participants of your Symposium that India and France have taken a leadership position in encouraging an International Solar Alliance. Our Hon. Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, has been deeply passionate about solar energy. In fact, when the world talk about truth and that related to the serious concerns on climate change, PM Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, had promptly come up with his theoryarticulating his vision which he titled “Convenient Action” and ever since even while he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he has been promoting renewable energy. He

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Minister's Address has been in the forefront of helping entrepreneurs set up solar plants, wind energy plants and today as PM of the country, he has rolled out a big vision for renewable energy which he also wants to encourage other countries around the world to take forward. Therefore, we are proposing an alliance of over a 100 nations from around the world, particularly the countries that fall between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. All the countries within these two tropics are being encouraged to come together and under the auspices of an International Solar Alliance, which will be a coalition of solar resource rich countries for the development of solar energy and technology, and the application of this technology to further promote solar energy in the world. This International Solar Alliance will be instrumental in providing enhanced understanding of the role that solar energy can play, particularly in providing energy to countries in Africa and countries in other developing nations and for rural areas in the developing world. We hope to launch the international alliance on the sidelines of the COP 21 Summit which will take place in Paris later this month and the Hon’ble PM of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, and the Hon. President of France, President Hollande will be jointly announcing the formation of this international solar energy alliance in Paris later this month. I am sure, by now many of you would have the opportunity to see the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, the INDCs that India has put forth on 2nd Oct. , the birth date of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, who himself was very passionate about protecting the environment, who himself was very conscious of preserving nature. And it’s a very good omen that on his birthday India has announced very very aggressive,

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This massive pledge to bring down carbon emission intensity by about 1/3 within the next few years is indeed one of the largest challenges before the nation and the massive roll out of the renewable energy to 175 GW is a part of our efforts and a part of our contribution towards global effort to reduce carbon emissions, reduce dependence on fossil fuel, improving the energy security of India and be a part of the global effort to bring down the greenhouse gas emission. bold and ambitious INDCs, which have been widely applauded around the world, particularly our efforts despite being at the cusp of the development cycle - to bring down the carbon emission and intensity of our economy by 33 to 35% over the 2005 level by 2030. This massive pledge to bring down carbon emission intensity by about 1/3 within the next few years is indeed one of the largest challenges before the nation and the massive roll out of the renewable energy to 175 GW is a part of our efforts and

a part of our contribution towards global effort to reduce carbon emissions, reduce dependence on fossil fuel, improving the energy security of India and be a part of the global effort to bring down the greenhouse gas emission. We also plan to roll up the share of non-fossil fuel energy installed capacity to about 40% of our total capacity by 2030. These INDCs reflect India’s cultural heritage and our tradition of living in harmony in nature which we inherited over the years. In fact, it’s very appropriate that this symposium today is being held in Switzerland, a countries which has led the global initiative on renewable energy. I am given to understand that almost the entire energy needs of Switzerland are met by non-fossil fuel based energy sources and I must extend my compliments to the Govt. of Switzerland and to the people of Switzerland for this outstanding achievement. I am sure Switzerland can provide technology, can provide large amounts of capital, can provide debt, equity and encourage similar effor ts by other developing countries like India and we would seek to enhance the partnership between Switzerland and India to take renewable energy to the next level in India and be a part of the global initiatives to address concerns of climate change. I am sure, together Switzerland and India can promote renewable energy which, as my Prime Minister said, is an article of faith for him personally and for his Government and I am sure Switzerland and India together can show the world that we will leave behind a better planet for the future generations. Once again, my best wishes for the grand success of the seminar, this symposium, being held in Switzerland today.

Clean Energy

Annual Solar Power Capacity to Quadruple Next Fiscal Year: Goyal There will be a total capacity addition of about 15,000 MW during next financial year

ndia may increase its solar energy capacity four-fold during the next fiscal year ending March 2017, Piyush Goyal, Indian Minister of Coal, Power and Renewable Energy says. “Today our solar capacity is about 4,500 MW and the capacity addition target for this year is about 2,000 MW. During 2016-17, we are hoping to add 12,000 MW in solar sector alone. Thus, including other renewable sources, there will be a total capacity addition of about 15,000 MW during next fiscal,” he said. The government is focusing on speed, skill and scale rather than subsidies to drive reforms and progress in the energy sector. The minister said water heaters that ran on solar energy had subsidy components some years ago.

Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy in the Government of India

government’s energy efficiency drive initiative. Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), a public sector entity engaged in distribution of LED bulbs, is expected to contribute about seven crore bulbs this year. “The same company distributed six lakh bulbs in 2013-14 during previous government’s regime. Due to economies of scale, the prices have come down by 76 per cent now. It is a standalone project now and there is zero subsidy. Upfront payment is Rs. 10 and the balance is paid over 10 months. Today, about 4 lakh bulbs are distributed every single day,” he added. Mr Goyal also said that the ministry was expediting electrification of all villages without power. As on April 1, 2015, there were 18,452 villages across 19 states without electricity.

“Our government inherited a huge subsidy bill,” he said adding, “If you keep depending on the clutches of the government, you would never able to achieve scale and path breaking innovation. Our government will handhold and support you in the initial period for a while, but ultimately the project has to be techno-economically viable,” he added.

“Prime Minister, in August this year, has asked us to electrify these villages in the next 1,000 days. But we have taken a pledge to achieve that in the next 730 days. Currently we are electrifying 100-120 villages every day. We will ramp it up to 200 villages a day. We have also planned to install off-grid systems in villages that pose challenges for grid power,” he stated.

LED bulbs

Maharashtra may waive all taxes for EVs

He highlighted the pace with which LED bulbs were distributed in the country as part of

Maharashtra is likely to be the first State to waive value added

tax (VAT), registration charges and road tax on electric vehicles (EVs), according to Mr. Goyal. “I suggested it to the Maharashtra Chief Minister some time ago to waive all taxes on EVs as a mark of our support to clean environment. He was very responsive to the idea. So, I am confident that the state will exempt EVs from VAT, registration and tax charges,” he said. On the challenges relating to charging infrastructure for EVs, he stated: “I would ideally like to see every petrol bunk in the country to have a charging station. Normally, such vehicles can be charged at home. But, if one is doing long distance travel, he/she should be in a position to do that at a charging station. We are working on building that infrastructure. Initial seeding “It could be a public-private partnership or initially seeded by the government and then subsequently it could become a business model. Also, power will no longer be an issue we have surplus coal and power in the country today. ” He added that the government was keen on facilitating faster roll-out of EVs across the states and government would partner with initiatives relating to EVs, hybrid technolog y or biogas programmes.

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Bilateral Ties

Meeting with Board Members of Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce

he Swiss-Indian Chamber o f C o m m e rc e ( S I C C ) h o s t e d a n i n t e r a c t i ve meeting between the distinguished members of its Board and the Indian Embassy on 3rd November, 2015, in Zurich. Topics discussed for cooperation were the worldclass Swiss Vocational Education and Training (VET) system, clean technology in which Switzerland has some of the world’s best technologies; investment in battery storage technology in India, hydropower in smart villages; cooperation between the high-tech SME sector in Switzerland and India; railways and railways technology, adoption of a hill State in India and aerospace cooperation.

The Ambassador of India, H.E. Ms. Smita Purushottam with members of Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce

Meeting with Board members of Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce

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We thank the SICC Board Members for taking the time to discuss positive ways forward for IndoSwiss economic and commercial relations. Among the distinguished SICC Board Members present were – Mr. Francesco Gherzi, Chairman, Swiss Indian Chamber of Commerce (Gherzi Engineering); Mr. Sushil K. Premchand, Executive Chairman, PRS Services AG, Zurich & SICC Honorary President; Mrs. Carina Steiner, Managing Director, Cleantech Switzerland; Mrs. Barbara Möckli-Schneider, Executive Director,Administration, SICC; Mr. Bernhard B. Fischer, MD, Leiter KMU-Geschaft Nordschweiz, Credit Suisse AG, Basel; Mr. Thomas Greter, Credit Suisse; Mr. Thomas W. Jung, Chairman, Acutronic Switzerland Ltd, Bubikon; Mr. Pierre Schaufelberger, Vice President, Nestle, and President SICC West and Mr. Philippe Reich, Baker Mckenzie, SICC Vice Chairman.

Culture

Jamini Roy Exhibition, Museo delle Culture, Lugano August 21, 2015 Source: Embassy of India

pride in explaining the artworks, tracing the evolution of Mr. Roy from his early experimentation with European styles, to his finding his own distinctive, very Indian style, thus establishing a modern national art expression. Special thanks are due to the Director and also to Adriana Mazza, who took the trouble to accompany us throughout our visit and guided us towards the Swiss Miniatur, on which we shall post some delightful pictures of miniaturized Swiss landmarks. Special thanks to the

ugust 21 is long past. But better late than never. After posting about the ride on Switzerland’s fabulous rail network (please do check out our earlier post on the popularity of rail travel, with the most number of miles logged on the eco-friendly Rail by Swiss nationals), it has taken a while to post about our actual destination, which was the Musee de Culture de Lugano. The Museum was hosting a truly eyeriveting exhibition of Jamini Roy (1886-1972)’s paintings - between June 12-August 23, 2015. The 76 artworks are from the London private collection of Mr. Nirmalya Kumar. This is the first major Jamini Roy exhibition organized outside India. We were honoured to be greeted by the Director and all the talented

artists, Curators and staff at the Museum. Mr. Francesco Paolo Campione, Director, Museo delle Culture, Lugano, took passionate

staff and artists at the Museum for taking the time to explain the symbolisms and nuances of the beautiful exhibits.

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Expert Opinion

An Indo-Swiss Life By H.N. Sharan with me to India in 1974 to tackle the problems faced by the management of BHEL, a big, state owned power equipment company. The contrasts were enormous, and the strengths and weaknesses of the two countries and their people highly disparate.

25 year Jubilee Celebration of the Community-owned Solar PV Power Plant in Seuzach

h e n I s t a r t e d my professional life with a Swiss company In 1957, Switzerland was famous not just for its precision engineering, watches and machine tools but it was also a world leader in designing and building highly efficient and large machines for power plants. It was fascinating to see and to learn how innovative small teams of engineers, designers and draughtsmen researched, developed, designed and built machines for which there was hardly any local market. I was

a part of a technology development and management team which maintained its leadership by means of continuing specialisation and technology partnerships. I also saw how cooperation was built up with companies around the worldwhich were much bigger than their Swiss technology providers. What I learnt about the vital roles of inhouse engineering, promotion of specialisation, team building and cooperation, quality management and continuous learning were Swiss gifts - which I happily took

In India I had to progress from being a power man to an energy man and back in Switzerland to becoming a rural development practitioner– from building machines to providing energy. My early professional life in Switzerland was so satisfying that I hardly thought much about India then. But on coming back in 1979 the question of how to merge Swiss resources with my Indian interests started to dominate my professional identity - my life became an IndoSwiss one. The overwhelming lack of energy in villages in India (in itself largely responsible for rural poverty) became the focus of my professional life. Renewable energy technologies were being developed here with very high priority and they fitted neatly into my personal Indo-Swiss cooperation matrix. C o m m e rc i a l i s a t i o n w a s f a r away: early efforts concentrated on development, testing and building pilot plants which, it was hoped, would lead eventually to

An Indo-Swiss Pilot Plant in Switzerland to adapt an Indian Gasifier Technology to Swiss Conditions

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Expert Opinion commercialisation. Developing solar PV lights for India, started with Swiss friends, was much too early for commercial success. Planning a 5MW solar thermal plant with a Swiss team was great fun but who would allow big heliostats on beautiful mountain slopes even if commercially viable? An electric rickshaw developed jointly with Swiss and Indian technical institutes was, with its expensive batteries and limited range, uncompetitive with cheap kerosene. And so it was then and still continues now. But in Seuzach, my Swiss village, a community-financed and owned 6 kWpPV power plant was built by a local society (www. solarkgs. ch) in 1991 and it continues to generate power to this day. The experience flowed in building more plants in Seuzach and small PV plants in India.

innovative Swiss Ministry of Energy provided financial support for qualification testing of an Indian biomass gasifier with Swiss and Indian experts and for a joint pilot projectin a Swiss village to adapt an Indian technology to Swiss conditions. The pilot project subsequently led to the construction of a 350 kW demonstration plant with an Indian gasifier in another Swiss village. It was great that the Indo-Swiss cooperation program promoted perhaps the first case of the reverse transfer of technology in the energy sector froma country in the developing South to a country in the advanced North! The successful joint program for gasifiersled to the formation of a Swiss NGO called “Fund for

H . N . S h a r a n h a s worked internationally in power and energy sectors for 60 years. His experience c ove r s t e c h n o l og y, management and policies in the fields of fossil fuel power plants, renewable energy technologies, decentralised systems and integrated rural development. A f t e r t a k i n g a P h . D. f r o m Manchester University in 1957, Hari Sharan joined Sulzer, a Swiss company and worked as a R&D engineer and manager till 1974. He then retuned to India and worked in Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) as a member of the Board of Directors in charge of engineering and R&D. He was a founder Director of India’s National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and a member of nationallevel bodies on technology and policies of the government. Hari Sharan went back to Switzerland in 1979 and has since then worked mostly on development, design and commercialisation of renewable energy technologies (RETs) covering solar thermal and PV, biomass combustion and gasification, hybrid generation systems for micro-grids and tiny grids and application technologies such as electric rickshaws and PV pumps.

An Indian Biomass Gasifier Plant in a Swiss Demonstration Power Station

The most exciting cooperation project was the joint IndoSwiss biomass gasification program. Biomass is a major renewable energy source in India and Dasag had been scouring the global technology markets for the best gasification technology. Ultimately we found it in India, developed by H.S. Mukunda, an exceptional professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. The

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Renewable Energy-Decentralised (FREND)” which raised funds from Swiss individuals and organisations to invest in the first renewable energy based decentralised power plant of DESI Power in India (www. desipower. com). Since then,DESI Power has built many pilot plants and established renewable energy technologies which can be managed by villagers. It is running 14 stand-alone power plants with

Sharan’s focus for the last 25 years has been on the promotion and commercialisation of renewable energy based power plants to drive integrated social and economic development of Indian villages. He promoted DESI Power which builds and runs stand-alone power plants and micro grids in villages in Bihar. He is currently President of Dasag Energy Engineering and SKGS, a solar power society in Switzerland (CH) and Chairman of DESI Power and a Director of Fichtner Consulting Engineers in India.

Expert Opinion electricity, water supply and micro enterprises. I n S w i t z e r l a n d , ap a r t f ro m technology, I learnt the skill to establish local and global partnerships. The cooperation network has included people and organisations from the USA, Germany, The Netherlands and France. Thousands of villagers have benefited directly and indirectly from their support but this would not have been possible without Swiss involvement.

A decentralised village power plant of DESI Power, a company set up with Swiss support

“Micro-Grids”in villages in Bihar and is planning to construct 100 new village projects.

of this pilot project will be used to build 1000 commercial units with Indian and Swiss investors.

A “REPIC”- grant from Swiss g o ve r n m e n t a n d a n I n d i a n development bank loan are helping to build 40 PV-based “Tiny Grids” to supply irrigation water to poorer farmers in Bihar villages. The results

Grants from private sector Swiss organisations are enabling the running of the “DESI MANTRA Training Centre” which enables village women and men to run and manage village projects for

Actions to minimise the risks of climate change will, we all hope, include the accelerated deployment of renewable energy technologies for improving the living conditions of villagers in Third World countries. The Swiss connection will continue to be important. So my Indo Swiss life continues. Some things work and many don’t. But cooperation with the efficient Swiss is such a pleasure.

Bilateral Ties

Year of Swiss Innovation in India 2015-16

Photos credit: Grégory Batardon

Source: Emabssy of Switzerland, New Delhi

Quantum dance performance based on the concept of kinetic movement in particle physics by Swiss Choreographer Gilles Jobin

witzerland has far surpassed the image of a country that produces the best cheese and chocolates in the world. It ranks first in the Global Innovation Index 2014, the WEF Global Competitive Index 2014 and the European Union Innovation Score Board 2014. Switzerland is among the countries with the highest expenditure on research and development in relation to its gross domestic product and the country with the most Nobel Prize winners per capita. Pioneering spirit, entrepreneurship, excellence in research and development, highly

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educated and well trained people and a fine-tuned collaboration between the private and the public sector have lifted Switzerland on top of global innovation rankings. Being an innovation powerhouse has contributed to the country’s economic success and the population’s well-being. The Embassy together with all official representations of Switzerland in India has launched the Year of Swiss innovation in India 2015-16. The landing of Solar Impulse in Ahmedabad and Varanasi in March 2015 provided

a unique opportunity for the start of this campaign. As an idea born in Switzerland, this solar airplane project embodies many of the features that characterize Switzerland as an innovation powerhouse – pioneering spirit, entrepreneurship, excellence in research and development, highly educated and well trained people and a fine-tuned collaboration between the private and the public sector. During the period between March 2015 and October 2016, symposia, workshops and travelling exhibitions on topics such as renewable energy, green buildings,

Swiss Innovation Night - Founders and CEOs of Swiss startups along with President of Lift, Abir Oreibi & CEO of swissnex India, Balz Strasser

The main partners of the Year of Swiss Innovation in India 2015-16 are the Embassy of Switzerland in New Delhi, General Consulates i n M u m b a i a n d B a n g a l o re , swissnex India, Swiss Business Hub India, Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce, Pro Helvetia New Delhi and Switzerland Tourism. The series of events is supported by Swiss and local companies present in India. We would like to invite you to participate in our events and to contribute to an enriching exchange between two countries with some of the most innovative minds worldwide – India and Switzerland. Lift India 2015 - Participants of Lift India 2015 engaging in a workshop on Bio Mimicry

robotics, intellectual property rights, gaming, digital innovation, design and artistic performances based strongly in science and innovation are being organized. The Year of Swiss innovation in India 2015-16 is however not only a vitrine of Switzerland’s existing achievements in these sectors. Our main aim is to strengthen further

business collaboration and investments between India and Switzerland as well as to facilitate academic exchange, the sharing of best practices and know-how. Just as the innovation process itself, the program is very much driven by private initiatives and the involvement of entrepreneurs, researchers and experts from India and Switzerland.

Think innovation, think Switzerland! For more information and a detailed event program please visit our homepage: http://www. wissnexindia.org/about/yosi/ and “like” us on Facebook: https://www. facebook.com/Swissembassyindia. For more information visit: https://www.eda.admin.ch/newdelhi

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Guest Article

By Anil Sethi

From Science to Entrepreneurship

oday, university education in India is largely focussed on getting a degree. There seems to be little link between what is taught at universities and the requirement of industry. Due to this gap Indian industry always struggles to find good people. At the same time, university educated young people struggle to find jobs that they have ostensibly got their qualification for. By some estimates, about 97% of all students who graduate from private engineering colleges are effectively unemployable, forcing companies to institute training programs that can last for months before these workers are ready to take any position of responsibility. The short-term impact is that education fails to enable a good quality of life, whereas the long-term and more pertinent one is that it fails to contribute to the advancement of the country. The greater challenge is that of science-based education. Seldom do we see any direct impact of

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scientific education on the quality of life of Indians, whether it is the undergraduate degree, the post graduation or indeed the PhD degree that they possess. Very little has been done by way of encouraging students to consider their education as an opportunity to make something that’s greater than themselves, rather than as a stepping stone towards joining the ranks of the job-seekers. IIT Delhi has set up an entrepreneurship incubation program, but this is lamentably the exception rather than the rule. Switzerland, on the other hand, is a shining example of technologybased innovation and world-class quality. This is transformative in sustaining the quality of life in Switzerland, which is second to none. Behind the entrepreneurial spark is the recognition that anything that can be replicated at low cost will be done in China and will rapidly become costcompetitive. Switzerland, therefore, only focuses on innovation and very high quality since this is

what can command value-added prices. The difference between cost-plus and value-added is that cost-plus products are fully mature industries where there is little or no innovation. The products are thus only differentiated on cost and the lowest-cost product gains market-share. China is the leader in this segment, due to economy of scale combined with low labour cost. Value-added products are those driven by innovation and the value of the products has no bearing on the cost of the raw materials used. Examples include leading-edge technology used for the new generation of satellites or sensors that enable the internet of things. Switzerland has traditionally been relatively conservative in adapting new technologies. Even as recently as about a decade ago, research teams with technologies that had the potential to commercialise were left to their own devices. As a result, although the technologies were robust, many other aspects remained inadequate, such as the

holy grail of start-ups, it can be considered that these start-ups have made it and will have a solution in the near future that will make our lives better. On the flip side, due to the ieLab initiative, several potential technical entrepreneurs have decided against the life of entrepreneurship due to the uncertainty. They have gone back to industry, but now with the wisdom gained by having at least tried their hand at entrepreneurship. These individuals can look forward to a more varied and successful career since all large companies require a mindset of entrepreneurship in their senior management. ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich

manufacturing mindset, business plan and investor documents as well as a compelling investor story. In absence of these, it was difficult to attract investors for all but the most intrepid of start-ups teams. Consequently, some of the best technologies developed at Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, the institute that Einstein attended over a century ago, never made it beyond the lab. Teams left ETH and moved on to the safety of large corporates, or committed themselves to a life or research in another scientific institution. However, over the last decade, Switzerland has begun to recognise the value of nurturing these technology entrepreneurs. A few years ago, a very interesting initiative was started at ETH. This was the ieLab, short for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Highpotential technologies led by teams comfortable with risk were selected and given funding of CHF 150K ($150K). These teams were coached by entrepreneurs to enable them to develop the components required for a startup. The support was given for 18 months in an incubator and this enabled the start-ups to define the

product, market, route-to-market, patents and expand teams beyond the technology team. An important attribute of the ieLab was that this was a one-way ticket. Thus, once your application for being considered for the ieLab was successful, you no longer had the option of going back to ETH and become a researcher again. The umbilical cord was irrevocably cut. This ensured that the teams recognised that the clock was ticking and the only way out was to commercialise. I’ve had the privilege of being invited by the ieLab to coach some of the brightest technologies coming out of ETH Zurich and guide them to commercial success. From my own experience of guiding and giving direction to really bright minds towards commercial success, I believe it is a model worth emulating. This model has demonstrated success in enabling high-potential technologies to transition to becoming innovative startups – start-ups that were able to get all the components together to not only become attractive to larger investors, but also to get customers and revenue. Since paying customer segments are the

Other things that have facilitated entrepreneurship in the past two decades include the Venture awards, launched by ETH Zurich together with McKinsey in Switzerland. The aim was to recognise start-ups with the greatest potential and to coach them to transition from being leading-edge technologies to world-class companies. Testament

Open-concept office space at ETH’s Engineering ieLab

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Guest Article to the success of this is the fact that several of the start-ups recognised by this award have been sold for over $200 million each. The startups recognised by these awards have created thousands of jobs and have a cumulative turnover of over $3 billion per year. This is additional revenue that would likely not have happened but for the steps taken in Switzerland to inculcate entrepreneurship. My own start-up Flisom was recognised by Venture almost a decade ago and this certainly helped us when we were a fledgling group with a global vision. As a result of the positive

reinforcement provided to these new technologies enabling them to convert into companies, Switzerland continues to be strongly positioned to be a leader among developed economies in the decades to come. The wealth created by these companies, many of them Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will have a trickle-down effect and ensure that the average per capita income continues to remain the highest in the world. SME’s, a majority of which are technology driven companies with a strong underpinning of innovation, constitute 2/3rd of all jobs in Switzerland and constitute over 99% of all Swiss firms*. Back to the Indian scenario. With the focus on university education in India, there is a huge

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opportunity to incubate the next generation of technology-driven entrepreneurship. Today, there is often a perception that founders of breakthrough technology-based start-ups are wired differently and have to be from the West. To change this mindset, it is important to create an ecosystem that celebrates entrepreneurship. Industrialists based in the region can be involved as mentors for emerging technologies, so that they can handhold these start-ups as they take the initial steps to commercialisation. Regional awards and recognition, where the winners compete in

national competitions, will help in creating an environment w h e re e n t re p re n e u r s h i p i s celebrated. Last but not the least, funding needs to be provided so that technology teams are able to cover their costs. For the technology teams to qualify for the funding and support, a neutral panel of experts, including entrepreneurs, international consulting companies and university professors can be put together to invest their time on a pro-bono basis. In this way, technology-based start-ups can be created in local regions. These then become the ‘local heroes’, or the reference points for others to emulate, because Silicon Valley is a bridge too far. True sustainable competitive

advantage is less likely to arise from competing with China on cost and more likely from encouraging emerging technologies that solve tomorrow’s challenges. In the process, these companies are likely to create wealth commensurate with the new value that they create, and part of this wealth will certainly find its way to the further development of India and help it achieve its rightful place in the world. *Credit Suisse report “Success Factors for Swiss SMEs 2015. ” M r. A n i l S e t h i is a serial entrepreneur. His first venture was the co-founding and establishment of Flisom – an ETH spin-off. After leading the company in his role as CEO for 8 years, he started his second venture, Swiss Extension. The mission was to enable Swiss technology to reach the market by enabling companies in fund-raising activities as well as guiding them towards commercial success. By way of Swiss Extension, he also brings together synergies in the business realm between India and Switzerland. His on-going and third venture comprises the establishment of Skill University in India in collaboration with Swiss entities who can provide vocational and complete hands-on training in the manufacturing and construction sector. This venture is in its incumbency stage at the moment. He’s also the co-founder of Scrona, an ETH spin-off focussing on nano-printing and a creditcard sized microscope. Springer Verlag is publishing his book on technology-driven entrepreneurship in 2016." Email: anil.sethi@swissextension.com

Skills: For Sustainable Competitive Advantage By Anil Sethi

n India, most of us study to ‘get the job’, to progress in our career – a field we land into due to marks at school or hours of slogging over the course syllabus to get through the competitive exams – by hook or crook, not necessarily by first-choice. The idea of studying is essentially to get into the rat race and make it big in the profession that we manage to grab.

in the field we choose; and the precise combination of practical and theoretical knowledge that will lend the student a complete picture of what is required in his field. A third missing element is – the proximity of skills and theories required with the requirements in the work industry. As a result, financial growth is in pockets and non-inclusive.

More often than not, two things are missing – the passion to study and automatically excel

India, today, is at the crossroads where between now and 2022, an estimated 500 million (50

crore) people will join the work force. They are largely uneducated, and possess no skills of relevance to prospective employers. If the workers joining the workforce are provided the right skills, these 500 million people can truly be a population dividend. But without the right skills, this population looking for work can give rise to civil unrest, as the gap between the haves and have-nots continues to increase. In comparison, Switzerland has

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Guest Article

a tradition of inclusive growth, stemming from the fact that it has no natural resources. Thus, for the country to progress, every citizen needs to be able to contribute by way of knowledge or skills. This was recognised as far back as over 250 years ago, when watchmaking skills enabled Switzerland to sell thousands of watches each year. These watches were hand-crafted and provided

Swiss start fairly young.

the workers with a better quality of life – especially during the tough winters when farm work would come to a halt causing a dent in their earnings. And for this, craftsmen who had an aptitude towards creativity and design, along with mechanics, were well-trained.

fields of specialization (medicine, engineering, linguistic studies, law, etc.). Only about 20% of the total students take this route.

Even today, the Swiss training – be it theoretical or practical - is based on aptitude, and acquired knowledge . No half-hear ted attempts will get you by; as with appropriate training, comes a sense of pride and a desire for perfection in your work. And for this, the

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Switzerland segregates its students between the ages of 12 and 15 years, via a national examination. The students who have a natural bent towards further education as demonstrated by the ‘gymnasium’ exam, are given the option to pursue higher university-based education, enabling the students to build their career around their

The remaining 80% complete their secondary school, which emphasizes more on the practical aspect by way of apprenticeships in real business sectors, banking, sales, administrative roles, carpentry mechanical, electrical or other service industries and theory lessons held at school. At the end of this 3-4 years of education, these students become skilled workers with a clear understanding

of all practical elements of the skill (picked through their apprenticeships) underpinned by a strong theoretical understanding of their chosen field (imparted at school). The alignment between theory and practical knowledge is driven by Switzerland’s strategy of defining the skill requirement in the foreseeable future. Testament to the success of

this program is the fact that the average wage in Switzerland is over CHF 80,000 per year for skilled workers. More interesting is the fact that the employment level for skilled workers averages over 97%. India needs to realise that it is after all skilled workers who drive development in developing countries and also in developed countries. A large skilled workforce would enable India to export skills to the rest of the world where the value of skills is much more than products. The higher earnings of locally employed skilled people

Guest Article can pay for the pensions of the ageing populations, a key issue that developed countries are only now beginning to recognise. India is in the midst of a generational opportunity to take blue-collar skills and more importantly the skilling mindset and focus on skill development. Today, able-bodied young persons go to larger cities and get stuck in the spiral of poverty since they continue to work in unskilled and low-paying jobs as contract workers. If these same people are provided skills, it will lift their earning potential. In areas like construction and infrastructure, it is estimated that India will require over 76 million* skilled workers between now and 2022. At this time, the total number of semiskilled persons in this critical area

enabling fundamental development varies from 2% to 5%, although the reality may be even more distressing. Some of these workers may want to go back to their regions of origin. Instead of trying to stop them from returning, they should be supported in their decisions and be encouraged to become skillbased micro-entrepreneurs. For this, they should be equipped with an understanding of basic finance and enhanced skills and equipment. Today, states and regions try to support those without

employment with grants and other subsidy schemes with funding from the central government. By encouraging skill based microentrepreneurship, states would be able to wean away from constant support as within a short time, these micro-entrepreneurs may be able to hire and train other persons who see a better quality of life driven by skill-based work than subsistence farming on everreducing plots of land. Skill-driven entrepreneurship will also inculcate a modicum of equality in these largely traditional and caste-based rural communities. Prosperity as a result of blue-collar work will give respect to these critical skills. The micro-entrepreneurship based skilling model can thus enable entrepreneurs to become engines of growth that can propel the states towards a path to prosperity.

Changing the focus from employment generation to providing skills that create employability will have a much more sustainable impact in all regions of India, moving it towards sustained development and to becoming a true resource pool for the world.

There is already some work ongoing in leveraging the Swiss skilling expertise to India. SkillSonics (www.skillsonics.com) has a focus on imparting manufacturing expertise through full-time courses in India. Skill Univ.(www.skilluniv. com) intends to commence short-term courses in the area of construction and infrastructure, backed by Swiss expertise. These and many other initiatives are required to roll out high quality, and more importantly, the value and relevance of skills, in creating better value and for forging a path to a better life.

The only way for India to progress is to ensure that every Indian is considered an asset and follow a truly inclusive model for development. This will be the result of providing skills based on capability to every Indian, whether able-bodied or differentlyabled. This is something of true sustainable value that India can gain from Switzerland. This is India’s moon shot for our generation.

*http://ar tic les .economictimes . indiatimes.com/2015-05-05/ news/61833365_1_realty-sectorconstruction-sector-estate-sector

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Business Write-up

Efficient Capital Raising on an International Market

Marco Estermann Head Issuer Relations

The Swiss financial center is highly attractive for both Swiss and foreign companies seeking to raise capital. Switzerland is among the world’s leading financial centers, noted for its innovation, stability and security. With SIX Swiss Exchange as a proactive partner, companies will benefit from an efficient process for raising capital and gain access to the deep pool of assets of major Swiss and international investors.

IX Swiss Exchange is part of SIX, which operates Switzerland’s financial m a r ke t i n f r a s t r u c t u r e . I t s four business areas provide a comprehensive range of services in the areas of securities listing and trading, securities services (i. e. clearing and settlement), financial information and payment transactions. As an infrastructure provider with international operations, SIX forms the backbone of the Swiss financial center and sets global standards across the entire value chain. Listing on SIX Swiss Exchange is a one-stop shop, as maximum trading efficiency and a highly reliable straight-through processing

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of shares, from order entry via execution to settlement, are guaranteed. SIX Swiss Exchange is the largest and most important privately owned exchange in Europe and the reference market for approximately 40,000 securities, including equities, bonds, exchange traded funds, exchange traded products, structured products and warrants. With an average free float of all listed shares of 86%, SIX Swiss Exchange is one of the most liquid exchanges and is dominant in half a dozen industry sectors in Europe such as life sciences, (specialty) chemicals, industrials, consumer goods and financials, as well as logistics and building materials.

Leading exchange for life sciences companies Switzerland is home to a wide range of companies that engage in cross-border activities. In the pharma, biotech and medtech sectors, for example, one will find established global leaders as well as innumerable fastgrowing smaller enterprises. This is fully reflected on SIX Swiss Exchange. “With more than 40% of the European life sciences market capitalization, we are the continent’s leading exchange in this sector”, explains Marco Estermann, Head Issuer Relations at SIX Swiss Exchange. “Life sciences companies listed with us thus benefit from

Business Write-up few years, SIX Swiss Exchange has had eight Indian issuers with eight CHF-denominated and two USDdenominated bond listings. Facts & Figures Swiss financial center • 5.6 trillion assets under management (in CHF) • 2.2 trillion assets under management allocated to equity (in CHF) • ~2,100 pension funds • ~600 banks and insurance companies

a dynamic market environment and enjoy an exceptional level of visibility vis-à-vis specialist investors and the media compared to other markets.” The Swiss financial center and SIX Swiss Exchange hold strong appeal for life sciences companies due to the large sector cluster in the country, built around leading (international) research and development centers, academia and a strong investor protection law. Sector champions like Novartis, Roche, and Actelion are listed on SIX Swiss Exchange, and other global pharma giants such as Pfizer, Abbott, and Eli Lilly are secondary listed and traded on SIX Swiss Exchange. The key to unlocking global private wealth for Indian companies Switzerland is the world leader in cross-border wealth management, with a global market share of close to thirty percent. The financial sector in Switzerland manages assets totaling around CHF 5.6 trillion, with roughly two thirds of this invested in equities and investment funds. There are about 600 banks and insurance companies and approximately 2,100 pension funds operating in Switzerland. With such a strong concentration of financial services firms and investors, SIX Swiss

Exchange provides listed companies with access to experienced, highly capitalized domestic and international investors as well as high liquidity. Additionally, investors in Switzerland have longstanding experience in handling cross-border and sector-specific investments. Efficient bond listing on an international market

• 2 7 % m a r ke t s h a r e i n global cross-border wealth management (Source: SIX Swiss Exchange; Swiss National Bank, October 2015; Credit Suisse Schweizer Pensionskassen 2014; BCG Global Wealth 2015).

Facts & Figures SIX Swiss Exchange • ~40,000 securities for which SIX Swiss Exchange is the reference market • >36,100 structured products

More than half of the over 1,700 listed bonds on SIX Swiss Exchange have been listed by foreign issuers from around 50 jurisdictions on all five continents. In addition, there are over 2,800 international bonds admitted to trading on SIX Swiss Exchange in 20 currencies.

• >2,800 international bonds admitted to trading in numerous currencies

SIX Swiss Exchange bond market is widely known as the reference market for the listing and trading of CHF-denominated bonds, but more recently has also seen an increased number of Swiss and international issuers listing their bonds in other major currencies (i.e. USD, EUR, GBP). This is mainly due to the fact that SIX Swiss Exchange provides both domestic and international issuers with an efficient and straightforward listing process for CHF- as well as non-CHF-denominated bonds, which allows them to access large pools of investors. So over the last

• >500 equity indices

• >1,700 listed bonds • >1,100 listed ETFs (15% market share regarding turnover in Europe) • 264 listed companies • 3 3 l i s t e d l i fe s c i e n c e s companies (including secondary listed companies) (Source: SIX Swiss Exchange, December 2015)

Marco Estermann Head Issuer Relations T +41 58 399 2406 marco. estermann@six-group.com SIX Swiss Exchange Ltd. Selnaustrasse 30 P.O. Box CH-8021 Zurich www. six-swiss-exchange.com

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Investment Promotion

Naidu’s Visit to Davos Attract Business Leaders Following story details the visit in January 2016 to Zurich and Davos (World Economic Forum) by Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu to attract foreign direct investment. Details are from the official Facebook and Twitter account of the Chief Minister. “Before heading to Davos for the 46th World Economic Forum Annual Summit, I made a stop-over at Zurich where I met several investors who are very keen on investing in Andhra Pradesh. I was overwhelmed to hear that they had closely followed the #Sunrise AP Investment Summit in Vizag. I also had the opportunity to meet some of Indian companies' CEOs in Zurich.

were among the 100 CEOs who attended the event. In Zurich, met with a delegation from leading solar panel manufacturing company, Meyer Burger. They are keen on an export-driven project in Vizag and Rajahmundry. Nüesch Development, a company with 20 years experience in sustainable u r b a n i s a t i o n , h ave ev i n c e d interest to construct low-energy

crore. I also met a delegation from Verde International AG. They gave a presentation on their novel technology that doesn’t require dam storage capacity and is ecofriendly. Power storage devices manufacturer, Leclanché has come forward to set up a manufacturing facility in India. A delegation from Ethical Coffee Company informed that

The Chief Minister of Andhara Pradesh, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu Promotes Andhra Pradesh in Davos

Elaborating on the opportunities and advantages of Andhra Pradesh, I have welcomed them to set up their offices in Amaravati, the People's Capital. Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto, Vishal Sikka CEO, Infosys, Sunil Mittal Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Enterprises Ltd, Suzlon Tulsi Tanti, Chairman, Suzlon

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buildings. Jens Weise, Head of Customer Management, BKW Engineering, also discussed his company's interest in energy projects in the state. Franceso Gherzi, Chairman, Gherzi Textile Unit submitted a proposal for mega textile park with an investment of Rs 2000

they aim to target the Asian market and attain a market value of $1 billion in 7 years. I suggested that they set up base at Vizag, making it accessible to Araku for coffee production and nearby ports. I'm confident that some of these meetings will result into investments in our Sunrise state

Investment Promotion by providing employment and boosting the state's economy. My efforts to bring investments to Andhra Pradesh are on. At the World Economic Forum too, I explained that "Andhra Pradesh means business". The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Director-General, Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee has said Andhra Pradesh State has evoked a lot of interest in the business leaders across the world making an impressive mark on Davos proceedings. During an interaction with Baneerjee, Chief Minister Naidu, on the fourth day in Switzerland, requested him to help set up centers of Innovation for creating skilled workforce and facilitate flow of investments. After a meeting with Dominic Barton, Global CEO, McKinsey & Company, the Chief

of Andhra Pradesh to help mobilise private and global financing for Amaravati. Prakash Lohia of Indorama Synthetics met the Chief Minister and evinced interest to invest $500 million in the State. He said Indorama is the largest producers of plastic bottles and surgical gloves in the world, with plants in Indonesia and Africa. Responding positively, the Chief Minister explained about the industrial-incentive policies in the State and assured him that all clearances will be given at the earliest. A team from Indorama will visit Andhra Pradesh in March to conduct a study. Shinichi Kitaoka, President, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said India is back in focus for them now, elaborating on the advantages of demographic

to visit Andhra Pradesh to which he gladly agreed. A n o t h e r i n d u s t r i a l i s t Jo h n T. Chambers, Executive Chaiman, CISCO, said they will set up a working group, consisting of two sides: to study the requirements and the opportunities. Explaining various e-initiatives launched by the State government, the Chief Minister said he aims to provide 15 to 20 Mbps connection to each household. Interesting conversations resulted in massive investments On the Second Day of my tour, I had the opportunity to have great conversations with Hon'ble Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickramasinghe, Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and heads of think tanks.

The Chief Minister of Andhara Pradesh, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu Promotes his sunrise state in Davos

Minister said they will bring in best practices for structuring the capital city and market tourism and investment potentials. Recalling his association with the company going back to 1996-97, Chandra‑babu said McKinsey played a vital role for Vision-2020 for the united Andhra Pradesh State. McKinsey is serving as a consultant to the Government

dividend, technology penetration and huge market demand. The Chief Minister said, “Andhra Pradesh offers a lot of opportunities t o J a p a n . C o n s t r u c t i o n o f People’s Capital – Amaravati, is a big opportunity. We want to complete Phase I of construction by 2018”. He also invited Kitaoka

I'm glad to share that Mr. Mistry has proposed to make a massive investment in the state. On a lighter note, he also told me about his love for Andhra food. With RBI Governor Mr. Rajan, I had a deep and interesting conversation about how we need to bring innovations into policy

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Forum where we they have agreed to partner with our state government in make agriculture profitable and sustainable. I'm also glad to inform you that WEF will have their office in Andhra Pradesh where we will collaborate to implement the best practices from across the world in our state. The WEF has already created subgroups to study and implement best agricultural practices in South America, Africa, Asia and Pacific regions. The studies from these groups will be implemented in Andhra Pradesh to enhance productivity, protection and profitability in agriculture in Andhra Pradesh. The Chief Minister of Andhara Pradesh, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu Promotes his sunrise state in Davos

making. It was a sheer delight to have a chat with him on macrolevel issues. During our chat, he told me that he lauded the Land Pooling our government has done to procure lands from farmers for the People's Capital of Amaravati. Later, I also met with global think-tank KPMG chairman for Netherlands Jurgen van Breukelen and discussed about incorporating Netherlands’ experience of coastal development in AP. My meeting with Nestle CEO Paul Bulke was interesting as we discussed about opportunities in the dairy and food processing sector.

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Some of my other meetings included meeting with Cambridge professor Sir LeszekBorysiewicz, Vice-chancellor of Cambridge University called on the Chief Minister. Later, I also interacted with students from Stanford University. I finished my Day 2 on a positive and energetic note where students shared their career goals with me in a very engaging session. I'm hoping to meet more bigwigs which will result in more investments for Andhra Pradesh. On the third day of my trip, I have had elaborate discussions with members of the World Economic

During a session, I explained to them about the initiatives taken by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, our irrigation initiatives in order to make Andhra Pradesh a droughtfree state. In the audience was Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn who lauded the efforts of our state in empowering farmers. I also had a chat with him about his initiative of creating Agriculture Promotion Council that has boosted agricultural productivity in Ethiopia. I'm hoping that this trip will bring in several investments to Andhra Pradesh. Everything I do will be to develop our state into Sunrise Andhra Pradesh where our people will be healthy, happy and prosperous”.

New Economy

India Setting up Space Park for Industry in Bengaluru

As India plans to launch at least 10-12 satellites a year using heavy rockets to deploy them in the earth's lower or geo-stationary orbits for various applications & services

he Indian space agency is soon opening a 100-acre Space Park in Bengaluru where private industry players would be allowed to set up facilities to make subsystems and components for satellites, a top official said on Tuesday.

"The Space Park is coming up near Whitefield for the private industry. It is over 100 acres. It is likely to be inaugurated this month," Indian Space Research Centre's (Isro) Satellite Centre Director M Annadurai told IANS at the science congress here.

With the space agency launching more satellites for various communication and earth observation services like remote sensing and navigation, the park will enable the industry to manufacture and supply their subsystems and vital components faster for spacecraft assembled at its satellite centre in the tech hub. Annadurai said: "We have told them

(private firms) to increase their capacity building or join us at the Space Park and make components and other parts for our satellites, as they have been already using our own facilities. " As India plans to launch at least 10-12 satellites a year using heavy rockets to deploy them in the earth's lower or geo-stationary orbits for various applications and services, demand for subsystems and vital components for spacecraft to carry scientific instruments or transponders as payloads has shot up manifold.

"The space industry has to invest and build modular capacity to enable the country to launch as many satellites to meet the growing demand of the user industry, including the government, private organizations and overseas users," said Annadurai. The satellite centre also plans to allow the private industry to make satellites end-to-end,

including integration and testing for launching them from its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km northeast of Chennai. "The Space Park will also contribute to the government's 'Make in India' initiative, as the private industry and (state-run) firms like HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.) have been helping us in making rockets and satellites over the years," Annadurai added. The senior space scientist, who involved in the country's maiden lunar and Mars missions, addressed delegates and students on 'Space

Science,Technology and Applications' at the plenary session of the five-day science congress in the campus of the University of Mysore here. The space agency outsources about 80 per cent of its requirements for rockets and satellites to the private industry comprising about 500 small, medium and large units across the country for supplying structures, subsystems, components and parts.

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Economic Co-operation

Swiss Bank Group Julius Baer Launches Bank in India

Mr. Atul Singh MD & CEO-India of Julius Baer

wiss banking group Julius Baer has finally set up shop in India, almost three years after acquiring DSP Merrill Lynch's domestic wealth management business. The launch was deferred on account of a delay in approvals from a bevy of regulators and 'complications' in the deal, said the firm's officials. "We had to get approvals from several regulators. Apart from the RBI and Sebi, we also had to get clearance from the Competition Commission of India as the deal between DSP Merrill and Julius Baer was above a certain threshold level," said Atul Singh, MD & CEOIndia of Julius Baer, one of the oldest wealth managers in the world. The blueribbon Swiss bank had acquired Merrill Lynch's India wealth assets

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as part of a global deal between the two firms in 2012. At the time of the deal, Merrill Lynch was the largest wealth advisor managing domestic assets worth Rs 25,000 crore.

market share often at the cost of global wealth managers like RBS, Barclays, HSBC, Citi and Deutsche Bank. Many of these domestic wealth managers wield assets in excess of Rs 50,000 crore.

Thomas Meier, member of executive board and Asia-Pacific head, Bank Julius Baer conceded there were complications. "We knew India was going to be a challenge as we did not have an on-shore presence at the time of the deal; the transfer of assets only happened after we set up onshore facilities".

"We've to build base on our inner strengths. We cannot copy global investment strategies and implant them here. We need to do this the Indian way," Meier said.

Julius Baer is coming to India at a time when homegrown wealth managers like IIFL, Kotak Wealth, Edelweiss, ASK Wealth and Motilal Oswal Financial Services have managed to corner the HNI

Julius Baer intends to keep $5 million as threshold levels for investors to walk in. "But if an investor wants to try us out with $2 million initially, we would accept that mandate also," Meier added. The banker intends to target newage entrepreneurs, "cashed-out businessmen" and oldriches to increase their asset base.

Economic Co-operation

Givaudan Lays the Foundation for New Flavours Facility in Pune, India

ivaudan has laid the foundation for a new flavours manufacturing facility, in Ranjangaon, Pune, India. Mr. Bhushan Gagrani, IAS, Chief Executive Officer, Maharashtra Industrial Development corporation (MIDC), Maharashtra State joined Givaudan CEO Gilles Andrier, and Monila Kothari, Commercial Head APAC, Givaudan Flavours at the ceremony. Givaudan is demonstrating the importance of India, as one of its key high growth markets, to its growth strategy by investing CHF 55 million in this new world-class flavours manufacturing facility. This is Givaudan’s largest investment in India since 1998.

Pune site, ground-breaking ceremony

The new site, which is expected to open in 2018, will complement G i v a u d a n ’s e x i s t i n g f l avo u r manufacturing facility in Daman. Givaudan Chief Executive Officer, Gilles Andrier said: “This major investment reflects India’s importance to Givaudan, and our overall 2020 strategy of investment in high growth markets. It shows our commitment to continue to collaborate closely with customers in Asia Pacific and provide differentiated solutions for local market needs. ” Expected to employ around 100 people, the Pune facility will boost Givaudan’s capabilities in liquids compounding, powder blending, emulsions, process flavours and spray drying in India. It also means customers from across the Indian sub-continent will benefit from faster access to Givaudan’s flavour solutions.

Commenting on the opening of the new site Monila Kothari, Commercial Head APAC, Givaudan Flavours, said: “Givaudan has a 50 year heritage of operating in India and these are exciting times for us. The

doubling of our flavour production capacity is testament to our commitment to India, and will help us continue to meet the dynamic needs of the Indian market for innovative products and great taste experiences. ”

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Economic Co-operation

Adani Ports & Terminal Investment to Jointly Develop a Major Transhipment Hub at Mundra

dani Ports & SEZ Ltd (APSEZL), part of the Adani Group, said on January 05, 2016 it will expand its existing terminal Adani International Container Terminal Private Limited (AICTPL) at its flagship Mundra port. AICTPL is a 50:50 JV with Terminal Investment Ltd, an arm of Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A., the second largest shipping liner in the world. The expansion is being carried out to create a transhipment hub for the Middle East, South Asia and India. Upon completion, AICTPL will emerge as India’s largest container terminal with a total quay length of 1,460 meters and cargo handling capacity of 3.1 million TEUs. It will be equipped with 15 super post panamax quay cranes, capable of handling 18,000 TEU container vessels at the terminal. The expansion of AICTPL will position Mundra as the major transshipment hub in the country providing congestion free and cost effective solution. Construction has already commenced and the

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Metric Tonnes of annual cargo by 2020,” Mr. Diego Aponte, CEO and President of MSC, said, "We are pleased to partner with Adani on this terminal development and the expansion of AICT. We are confident that Mundra will become a major transhipment hub within South Asia. ”

terminal will be commissioned in 15 months. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Karan Adani, Chief Executive Officer, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Limited, said, “We are pleased to take our partnership with MSC to the next level. With this expansion, Mundra will emerge as a transhipment hub for the Middle East, South Asia & India. It will also make Mundra the largest Container Port in India with a cumulative capacity of 6.6 million TEU and will help in achieving our vision of handling 200 Million

The expansion will also exclusively position Mundra as the largest Container Port in the country with 4 state of the art container terminals having a cumulative handling capacity of 6.6 million TEUs, spread over an area of approx. 146 Hectares. Mundra Port already enjoys the coveted reputation of being the largest private commercial port in the country. Its deep draught and strategic location on the Indian coastline makes it an ideal choice for establishing a transshipment hub. APSEZ and MSC had set up AICTPL in 2013 with state of the art technology and environment friendly footprint.

Climate Change

Indo-Swiss Joint Research on Integrated Vulnerability, Risk and Hazards Assessment in Kullu District: Results Sharing Workshop

Results Sharing Workshop: Indo-Swiss Joint Research on Integrated Vulnerability, Risk & Hazards Assessment in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, India

workshop to share initial results from a pilot study on integrated assessment of climate vulnerability, hazard and risks in Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh was organized by the Indian Himalayas Climate Adaptation Programme (IHCAP) of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Shimla on 17 November 2015. The study was undertaken by a consortium of Indian and Swiss researchers in early 2014 in coordination with the Department of Environment, Science and Technology, Government of Himachal Pradesh and researchers from HP State Council on Science and Technology. Over 50 representatives from various academic and research institutions and universities, experts and officials from the Government of Himachal Pradesh participated in the workshop. Based on the discussions, it was agreed that appropriate adaptation actions need to be identified for planning and implementation in Kullu district. The study incorporates a set of science-based potential adaptation measures for the Indian Himalayan Region and the key overarching policy perspectives for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Indo-Swiss Joint Venture

Indo-Swiss Joint Venture - Satarem Enterprises Private Limited

atarem Enterprises Private Limited is a Joint Venture between SATAREM AG, Switzerland and Shivrams Associates Private Limited. The company was incorporated in January, 2011. The company was formed with a mission to penetrate the Indian markets to address the high pressures for its growing Energy Demand.

Shivaram Associates Private Limited was founded in 1974 by Mr. V. Sivaraman (f/o) Mr. Venkatesh Sivaraman (Also: Executive Director, in Satarem India). The company has over five decades of absolute dominant and prominent presence in promoting and developing concepts and markets for products in India and surround. This synergy with the world’s best technical, engineering & forward looking with the most aggressive company in India puts forth opportunity to provide the best solutions to the growing, demanding and desperate need of CLEAN Energy. About the Parent Company SATAREM AG was founded in 1992 by Mr. Jérôme Friler, Registered in Switzerland and operating across the globe providing solutions for heavy engineering industries. They were former project managers from Fuller (USA), at the time the biggest engineering company in the world. The services of the company include project feasibility study, complete plant design and engineering, equipment fabrication, plant installation, start- up and operation, personnel training and product development. The company has its core expertise into cement industry projects; however it has integrated its application and experiences into

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solutions in Waste Management, Non-conventional energ y management & Oil Equipments. Its core engineering experience manifests into areas of Clean Energy Development with sensitivity to Environment and Development. SATAREM currently employs over 200 engineers, & scientists specializing in design, sales / p r o c u r e m e n t . O v e r 9 0 0 engineering personnel in erection of olants, integration and project management capabilities to deliver turnkey plants. The company has projects in areas including: i. Municipal Solid Waste to Energy (M-WTE) project. ii. Wind Energy. iii. Wave Energy. iv. Bio-fuels. v. Oil Equipments. SATAREM’s clients include most major cement producers around the world such as LAFARGE, HOLCIM, ITALCEMENTI, HEIDELBERGER, CIMPOR, VICAT, GIC, etc. Satarem adopts co-combustion technology, a versatile technology

which achieves near to zero dioxin & furan levels using patented Dual Purpose Reactor (DPR) technology. Bi-product of this technology, bottom ash is used in making construction materials like paver blocks & cement bricks. Our concept of Co-combustion technology with low emissions are as per European norms -There are more than 500 such WTE projects in the world which include China, Singapore, Europe USA and Japan. Around 150 WTE plants are there in China alone and waste in China is similar to our Indian waste. This technology has been adopted by most of the Municipalities & City Corporations worldwide. It is estimated that the waste generation in India could be as much as 0. 6 kg/person/day. But unfortunately the country has only a third of the land space required for waste disposal. India's rapid population growth only magnifies the problem. Rural population has grown at more than 20% each year since 1980 and is projected to reach a rate of more than 30% by 2015. Apart from the population

Indo-Swiss Joint Venture growth, the - waste management – crisis could - result in serious health problems and irreversible damage to the environment. The new facility BAFEBangalore Alternative Fuel and Energy, an eco-friendly facility with world class technology being implemented for the First time in India at Bangalore is set to – change drastically this situation for the better environment, which incorporates Reuse, Recycle and Reenergize. The Bangalore Alternative and Fuel Energy facility is an integrated municipal solid waste and Energy management plant which will be a completely the facility being set up under a public-private partnership arrangement between Satarem India and BBMP. This facility reduces the volume of waste by 90% and weight by 80% with cocombustion technology. The residual bottom ash would be utilized to make construction materials like cement bricks, paver blocks etc. This facility will generate power from mixed waste without any auxiliary fuel on continuous running basis except in the starting of the plant. Recyclables

will be separated and disposed scientifically. This Plant will be operated using PLC based semiautomatic operational controls. The key aspect of this project would be that of near zero landfill. Waste to Energy or Energy from Waste simply means generating power from heat that is created when waste is thermally treated using co-combustion technology. Satarem Enterprises Pvt. Lmited, India is developing its first Waste to Energy project in India at Bangalore, Karnataka. The project is done in Public Private Partnership (PPP) model with BBMP (Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike) to manage the city’s municipal waste and create energy from waste. Processing of approximately 1,000 MT of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) per day supplied by BBMP, which exclude commercial/ industrial waste of about 430 MT. After extraction of compost and recyclables, MSW of about 1,000 MT will be available for

generation of power. WTE facility for processing the MSW with an installed generation capacity of 30 MW (2x15) and generate 28 MW of power for export of 2426 MW of power on completion two phases. The first phase will be only for 15 MW and export of 12.50 MW. Land for the project has been identified to the extent of 40 acres of land, located in Gorur Village, near Solur (46 kms from Bangalore City & 3 Kms from State Highway connecting Bangalore and Hassan). The concession period is proposed to be about 30 years. The project activity would require about 28 months to erect and commission the IWTE plant. We have considered 30 months for commencement of commercial operations. The construction of the project begains in January, 2016.

State Bank of India, Antwerp

Please visit us at www.sbiantwerp.com OR email at mgrcredit.antwerp@sbi.co.in mgrdiamond.antwerp@sbi.co.in / mgrstl.antwerp@sbi.co.in / mgrtrade.antwerp@sbi.co.in

Swiss Investment

Swiss PE Partners Group to Invest up to $1 Billion on India Over 3-5 Years By Sneha Shah & Arijit Barman Economic Times, February 3, 2016

Dynamic Moves Swiss PE investor Partners Group co-CEO Andre Frei says the company takes a micro call on the opportunity when investing

t a time when the sheen around global emerging markets, especially the BRICS nations, has taken a serious beating, Swiss private equity investor Partners Group flew in half its global investment committee to India late January to meet promising entrepreneurs and back their compelling business ideas. Mr. Andre Frei

India is a dynamic economy and it does not matter if it is slightly up or down for six months. We are taking a far longer-term view on the private market opportunities with an average five to six-year horizon.

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This is not a one-off show of commitment as Partners, one of the world's largest backer of privately held companies, is looking to deploy up to a billion dollars in Indian market over the next three to five years, senior company executives said in an interview with ET. "When we invest, we are not taking a macro call on the country so much as we are taking a micro call on the opportunity," said Andre Frei, partner and co-chief executive. "India is a dynamic economy and it does not matter if it is slightly up or down for six months. We are taking a far longerterm view on the private market opportunities with an average five to six-year horizon. " The firm is no stranger in this market, having backed several regional and local private equity and venture capital funds for over a decade as their investor, or limited partner (LP) in industry parlance. It decided to take a direct bet in the

game since 2012, and followed it up by opening a dedicated India office two years later. After deploying $800 million across three asset classes of private equity, real estate and infrastructure, Partners sees this as an opportune time to step up its PE practice. It has already made three investments so far, including a $270 million leveraged buyout of CSS Corp, a remote infrastructure management and technology support services firm, in 2013. In another undisclosed growth capital transaction, Partners picked up a minority stake in education company Eurokids. "We want to find two-three good opportunities every year and we believe they are not difficult to find," said Manas Tandon, India head for Partners Group, in his first media interaction since taking charge in July last year. But even then, industry experts feel that compared with many of its bulge-bracket peers, the investment firm that manages $50 billion of assets has chosen to hold back in India, shying away from frothy valuations and quick diligences driven by a hyper-competitive PE market. "We always try to find the right relative value for our investors. So, a lot of things have to come together including the business, the sector,

Swiss Investment

the entrepreneur and the business case," said Tandon. "Ultimately it's a matter of selectivity and we will continue to remain prudent about our choices. The journey of PE in India to-date has not been smooth, it has been relatively sobering at times. So we have also been very prudent about valuations, which to us are a function of governance, growth prospects and market dynamics," he explained. The gap in valuation multiples for Indian companies in relation to most global peers with comparable growth "has narrowed now", said Tandon, even if high-quality businesses still trade at "very rich multiples". The fuzzy path to profitability is also making the team resist backing local consumer Internet companies that have seen frenzied investor interest of late, even though in Tandon's own words, he remained an avid ecommerce consumer. "We will not invest in companies where the unit economics are not very clear. We like to invest in steady businesses, even though they may not yet be profitable at the time of investment. " Going ahead, the plan is to evaluate a mix of minority growth investments and control transactions in sectors such as consumer, financial services, healthcare, business services and technology. Even in minority deals, the preference clearly is for substantial stakes with significant rights, board representation and the ability to shape strategy of the company. It will largely be a midmarket play with a $65-200 million sweet spot per transaction. "Good quality companies would get multiple suitors and we are not

scared of competition. The market is deep enough and it is never a zero-sum game," said Frei, the cochief executive, while admitting that too much capital was still chasing too few bankable opportunities. Within the broad financial services spectrum, the India team has been spending a lot of time scouting for opportunities in the housing finance sector and has been involved in at least two sale processes, either on their own or with co-investors. Tandon puts it as one of the stronger macro themes that will pan out considering the low penetration of the market. In healthcare, too, the hunt is broad based, from hospital chains to diagnostic centres, medical devices and even pure play, young pharma companies with sizeable overseas earnings. "In all of these sectors, we are looking for high-quality growth companies, whether the growth is derived from domestic consumption or from exports," said Tandon. Partners Group is also looking at secondary purchase of LP commitments, but such deals globally are a bit complicated to complete. Even secondary trades between funds are gaining traction as funds of older vintages proactively seek exits. "While the IPO market has been choppy, companies that have gone past the finish line are trading at rich multiples - e.g., Dr. Lal's and Narayana. This incentivizes many funds to hold on to their positions and wait for a public market exit. Having said that, we do see a lot more sponsor-to-sponsor sale processes than we have in the recent past," Tandon said.

Manav Tandon

We like to invest in steady businesses, even though they may not yet be profitable at the time of investment

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Feature Story

Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) Project - A Global Manufacturing and Investment Destination

he Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project is being developed on both sides of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor as a global manufacturing and investment destination and has made significant strides since 'in principle' approval accorded in August, 2007. DMIC Industrial cities are being benchmarked against recently established industrial cities in other parts of the world. An institutional framework with a dedicated Special Purpose Vechicle (SPV), viz Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) was set up for project development, coordination and implementation of the projects. DMIC Project

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I m p l e m e n t a t i o n Tr u s t F u n d has been set up as a Trust in September, 2012. The land for the new industrial cities will be the contribution of the State Government. The project is being implemented in stages. Initially, eight Investment Regions are being taken up. The brief status of projects under implementation is as under:(i) Model Solar Power Project, Neemrana, Rajasthan – the EPC contractor has commissioned the 5MW plant and the remaining 1 MW integrated solar project is under process of implementation. (ii) L o g i s t i c D a t a B a n k – A notification has been issued

by Tariff Authority of Major Ports (TAMP) for levy of Mandatory User Charges for the project. The formation of the SPV for the project is currently underway. (iii) Integrated Industrial Township Greater Noida (U. P) – SPV has been incorporated and equity of DMIC Trust and the State Government has been released to the SPV. Tenders for appointment of EPC contractor for implementation of trunk infrastructure works with approximate value of Rs. 500 crores and the Project management Consultant has been issued. (iv) Integrated Industrial Township, Vikram Udyogpuri (M. P) SPV has been incorporated and equity of DMIC Trust and the State Government has been released to the SPV. EPC contractor has been appointed for the implementation of trunk infrastructure. Process for appointment of Project Management Consultant is currently underway. (v) Ahmedabad Dholera Special Investment Region in Gujarat (Activation Area of 22. 5 sq. km) – The Shareholder’s

Agreement and State Support Agreement have been finalized in consultation with the State Government and the same are likely to be executed shor tly. The Environment clearance has been obtained for the project and preliminary engineering works has also been completed. The Government of India has approved the trunk infrastructure packages for the Activation Area (22. 5 sq. km) for an aggregate value of Rs. 2784. 83 crore and the tenders are being floated in a phased manner. Tender documents for selection of the EPC Contractor for roads and underground utilities and design & construction of Administrative Building for Dholera have already been issued with an aggregate value of Rs. 2366 crore. (vi) Shendra Bidkin Industrial Park in Maharashtra (Phase-1approximately 8. 39 sq. km. ) - The Shareholders’ Agreement

and State Support Agreement has been executed between Government of Maharashtra and DMIC Trust and Node/ city level SPV in the name of ‘Aurangabad Industrial Township Ltd. ’ has been incorporated. Land has been transferred by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to the SPV. The Environment clearance has already been obtained and the preliminary engineering for various trunk infrastructure works has been completed. The DMIC Trust’s share of equity has been transferred to the SPV. Programme Manager has already been appointed for the project. The Government of India has approved the trunk infrastructure packages for an aggregate value of Rs. 1533. 44 crore and the tenders are being floated in a phased manner. The tender for Design & Construction of Roads & Services and Road over Bridges

(RoBs) have been issued with an aggregate value of Rs. 1296 crore. IMPACT ON INDIA • The DMIC project seeks to create a strong economic base with a globally competitive environment and state-ofthe-ar t infrastructure to activate local commerce , enhance investments and attain sustainable development. • New DMIC Cities will help to meet pressures of urbanisation and also lead India’s economic growth for the next 20 -30 years. • The project aspires to double employment potential, triple industrial output and quadruple exports from the region in the next seven to nine years. The project is featured in KPMG’s ‘100 Most Innovative Global Projects’ as one of the world’s most innovative and inspiring infrastructure projects.

India-S w it zerland in Focus 2016

Feature Story

India in Space: Year End Review of ISRO’s Achievements in 2015

rom positive news of Mars Orbiter Mission completing its task successfully and enhancing its lifespan for few more years, ISRO has made every Indian smile with pride in 2015. Hardwork, dedication and team spirit still dominate the sprawling ISRO campus in Bangalore and their efforts towards socially beneficial projects has equally taken centrestage in 2015. Here is a glance at what ISRO achieved in 2015: MARS Orbiter Mission has successfully completed its objective as planned and has completed one year around Mars orbit on September 24, 2015 and it withstood the test of scientific challenge by successfully coming out of the solar conjunction (a phase of communication blackout) in July 2015 using the On-board

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Source: Press Information Bureau autonomy built in the spacecraft. The Spacecraft is in good health and all the five scientific payloads are providing valuable data about the Martian atmosphere. A book titled ‘From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet’, India’s space Journey, with series of articles from luminaries from ISRO, was released on November 05, 2015, on the second anniversary of Mars Orbiter spacecraft launch. Mars Orbiter Mission has been awarded “Space Pioneer Award” for science and engineering category for the year 2015 by the US based National Space Society. The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development has been awarded to ISRO in recognition of its path-breaking. 2. Successful launch of GSLV: On Aug 27, 2015, Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D6),

equipped with the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), successfully launched GSAT-6, the country’s advanced communication satellite, into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). This was the second consecutively successful flight of GSLV with the indigenous CUS, which is testimony to ISRO’s expertise in mastering the highly complex cryogenic rocket propulsion technology. It also signifies self reliance in launching 2 Ton class communication satellites into GTO. 3. Next Generation GeoSynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III: The first experimental flight of heavy lift next generation launch vehicle, GSLV-Mk III, was successfully conducted on December 18, 2014 to validate the Integrity of design of GSLV Mk III. It has also successfully

Feature Story

tested the unmanned Crew module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE) as the crew module splashed down over Andaman Sea with the help of its parachutes and was recovered from the sea.

of seven satellites is expected to be completed by 2016. Once completed, the IRNSS System will benefit the country by providing positioning services over Indian Land Mass and a region extending to the about 1500 Kms around India.

satellite (carrying 24 Ku band transponders & GAGAN payload) was launched on November 11, 2015 at 3. 04 hrs IST to augment the INSAT/GSAT system capacity for DTH, TV broadcasting, Digital Satellite News Gathering and VSAT services and other societal benefits.

In addition, GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation), which is primarily being used in aviation sector for precise position information services, has been certified by DGCA for Navigation Performance level of Approach with Vertical Guidance (APV-1) over India.

GSAT-6, the country’s Advanced Communication Satellite (carrying S-Band payload with 5 spot beams & C-Band Payload with one beam) was successfully launched on Aug 27, 2015 into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. S-Band Unfurlable Antenna of 6 meter diameter was successfully deployed on August 30, 2015. The satellite has now been positioned in its designated orbital slot of 83 degree East longitude. GSAT-6 is intended to be used for mobile communication

With this, India becomes the Third country in the world, after USA and European Union, to offer Global Navigational Satellite System (GNSS) based precision approach

Endurance hot test of High Thrust cryogenic engine (CE20) of GSLV-Mk III was successfully conducted on July 20, 2015 for 800 seconds as compared to its nominal burn duration of 635 seconds during flight. This engine is useful for powering the Cryogenic stage (C25) of GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle. Another short duration (5. 7 s) hot test on the CE20 engine was conducted on Aug 10, 2015 to test engine ignition with tank pressure conditions as in flight. GSLV Mk III is designed to launch 3. 5 to 4 Ton class communication satellites to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. 4. Navigational Satellite System called Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) consisting of a total of seven satellites to provide satellite-based navigational services in the country was carried out as planned in 2015. IRNSS-1D, the fourth satellite in this series was successfully launched on-board PSLV-C27 on March 28, 2015. With four navigational satellites in orbit, it is now possible to provide Position, Navigation and Timing services. The IRNSS constellation

services to civil aviation sector. The GAGAN System jointly developed by ISRO and AAI is a giant leap forward in the development of GNSS services in India and will redefine navigation in both aviation and non-aviation application areas. 5. Augmenting the Satellite Communications infrastructure: GSAT-15,a 3 ton class communication

with hand held terminals for defence applications. 6. India’s first multiwavelength Observatory in Space: ASTROSAT satellite, India’s first dedicated astronomy satellite was successfully launched by PSLV-C30 on September 28, 2015. ASTROSAT enables simultaneous Ultraviolet to X-Ray observations to study

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Feature Story

Stars and Galaxies. It is a unique mission with combination of scientific instruments covering near ultra-violet, far ultra-violet and x-ray bands for multi wavelength observations. The ultra-violet imaging telescope of ASTROSAT has a best resolution of 1. 8 arc second combined with large field of view. 7. Commercial Launch of PSLV: India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle has launched 17 foreign satellites from seven countries (Canada, Indonesia, Singapore, UK, and USA) during 2015 bringing the total number of foreign satellites launched by ISRO to 57. (a) India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C28, successfully launched five satellites from United Kingdom viz. DMC3-1, DMC3-2, DMC3-3, CBNT-1

and De-orbitsail from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota on July 10, 2015 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. (b) P S LV- C 3 0 , a l o n g w i t h ASTROSAT has successfully launched six co-passenger satellites, 4 LEMUR Satellites (USA), Lapan-A2 (Indonesia) ; NLS-14 (Canada) on September 28, 2015. (c) P S LV- C 2 9 l o f t e d o f f s i x satellites of Singapore in to their designated orbit this year. TeLEOS-1 is the primary satellite whereas the other five are co-passenger satellites which include two microsatellites (VELOX-CI, Kent Ridge-1) and three nano satellites (VELOX-II, Athenoxat-1, Galassia). 8. Satellite for SAARC Region: ISRO/DOS, with active support

from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), hosted a Conference on “Satellite for the SAARC region and Space Technology Applications” on June 22, 2015 at New Delhi to study configuration and ground Infrastructure requirements for the proposed ‘Satellite for the SAARC region’ and representatives from all SAARC member countries participated. 9. Conservation of heritage sites: SRO has prepared a systematic database of heritage sites using space technology for mapping and identification of vulnerability of each monument and preparation of plans to track and mitigate environmental or weather changes that may have an adverse impact on fragile monuments. 10. Addressing unmanned level crossings Pilot studies for automatic warnings at unmanned level crossings have been carried out using GAGAN,RailNavigator tools; MSS based tracking system and Bhuvan. It comprises of a geospatial database on the accurate locations (geographical coordinates) of unmanned level crossings and GAGAN enabled devices mounted on the train engine. A train mounted with such a device would know the location of unmanned level crossing and train’s hooter will automatically start when it approaches near to an unmanned crossing.

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Innovation

Lithium Ion Battery Capability Developing in India By Shobha Mathur

ithium ion battery capability is finally being developed in India to bring costs down and make such batteries cost effective for mass production of electric vehicles (EVs). This was revealed on 21st December 2015 by Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for Road Transport and Highways at the inauguration of the first Electric Vehicle Expo 2015 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.

these lithium ion batteries to be manufactured by the small scale sector in the country. Gadkari also spoke about briefing vehicle manufacturers about developing flex fuel technology cars, similar to those being used in Brazil, to reduce pollution and to enable a more cost-effective transportation system in the country.

(CIRT) has partnered for this project to validate and ensure that the electric bus technology is safe, reliable, and well suited for Indian road conditions. KPIT says the smart electric bus enables clean mobility and is aligned with the Indian government’s initiatives of Make in India, Smart Cities and Swachh Bharat.

Gadkari recounted how, on a visit to London, he had travelled in an Ashok Leyland-owned Optare electric bus around the city and on enquiring was told that the lithium ion battery powering the bus cost Rs 55 lakh. On returning to India, he asked ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), which is developing lithium ion batteries for rockets and satellites, to develop one for four-wheelers, e-rickshaws and buses. Six months later, the lithium ion battery was patented after being tested by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI). The development cost is estimated at Rs 5-6 lakh. Three electric buses have been fitted with these batteries. The first of the batteries was fitted in the electric bus flagged off by the Prime Minister at the Parliament for transporting members on December 21 (pictured above). Two more electric buses have been developed, one for the Supreme Court and the other for the Road Transport and Highways department. The Minister said he has requested the Prime Minister to allow

Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi flags off the smart electric bus, at Parliament House, in New Delhi on December 21, 2015

He has also asked Chinese companies participating in the EV Expo 2015 (December 25-27 in Delhi) to ink joint ventures with Indian firms to develop e-rickshaws and e-carts as well as other EVs while adhering to standards and quality. Central Institute of Road Transport

This full electric system for buses can be deployed to create new intelligent electric buses, as well as convert existing conventional fuel buses. It is a versatile system and a variety of existing bus types can be converted to electric buses. KPIT has over 20 global patents for this technology.

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Bilateral Co-operation

Bharatiya Skill Development Campus in Jaipur

Skills and Training Based on the Swiss System of Vocational Education and Training By Andreas Bachmann, Member of the Board & Markus Gmeiner, Head of Project Management Rajendra & Ursula Joshi Foundation

kill Development Private Limited and its Swiss knowledge partner, Joshi Foundation, have established in Jaipur a high performance training center for providing skills based on the Swiss system of vocational education and training. The first training program for polymechanics has successfully been launched, while courses for electricians, brick layers, medical assistants and many others professions will follow. Training Concept Bharatiya Skill Development Campus (BSDC), built 2015 on behalf of Skill Development Private Limited, is located in SEZ Mahindra Word City, Jaipur. The training center covers an area of more than 29’800 square meters, consisting of top modern buildings equipped with an extensive array of state-

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of-the-art machines imported from Switzerland, Germany and Austria. This first-class infrastructure allows to provide apprenticeship education and training based on the Swiss Dual System (a combination of practical training and theoretical lessons), adapted to meet the Indian industry needs. Apprentices’ education and training take place under the watchful eyes of knowledgeable and experienced trainers. The number of apprentices is limited per course which helps to give individual attention on each of them and to implement an innovative “one apprentice – one machine” concept. BSDC’s first vocational training and education program based on the Swiss Dual System is offered for polymechanics. Sufficient land reserves are available for

the realization of buildings and training centers in other professions. Therefore BSDC will offer in the future courses for electricians, brick layering, medical assistants, secretarialship, administrative executives and many more. Basic , Advanced and CNC Courses as well as Train the Trainer Programs offered at Bharatiya Skill Development Campus. BSDC offers basic, advanced and CNC courses whereby all programs meet the global i n d u s t r y s t a n d a rd . T h e s i x months production technician basic course gives the participants hands-on experience to work on sophisticated machines while one day in the week is spent learning the nuance of theoretical aspects. The production technician advanced

Bilateral Co-operation course takes also six months and covers up the progressed skills needed to be a production technician. The CNC milling & turning course is one of the most sought after course in the production industry. The program covers up operation performed in Mills and Turning Centers (lathes) with the help of CNC. Last but not least BSDC is providing exclusive “Train the Trainer Programs” for industrial trainers to get them up to date with the latest cuttingedge technologies. Furthermore these programs give trainers the opportunity to design, analyze and prepare their own training modules. The Project Initiator The driving force behind Bharatiya Skill Development Campus is Rajendra Kumar Joshi, originally resident of Dundlod, Sikar district, Rajasthan, and since 1969 living in Switzerland. After obtaining his doctorate in pharmacy, Dr. Joshi worked as a Research Associate and later as a Professor (lecturer) at ETH Zürich teaching medicinal chemistry and structure activity relationship. In addition Dr. Joshi was founder and partner of Fumapharm AG, a Swiss pharmaceutical company which was sold in 2006 to stock-exchangelisted Biogen. At Fumapharm AG Dr. Joshi had developed a number of products against several diseases, among other things Tecfidera, a medicine against multiple sclerosis with worldwide sales of more than USD 3 billion a year. Besides his professional activities, Dr. Joshi was searching together with his wife Ursula the reasons why the Swiss, German and Austrian economies are so sound and have a significantly lower unemployment rate than other European countries. Their enquiries have shown that the share of skilled working force of these three countries is more than 90 % which is quite different from other countries in Europe and

in the world. What is the cause for this difference? The answer is the unique system o f a p p re n t i c e s h i p education prevailing in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, the socalled “Swiss Dual System”: Learning theory in vocational school and practical training on job in industr y. With the aim to bring this excellent system of skill development to India, Dr. Joshi and his wife Ursula established the Joshi Foundation in Switzerland and decided to set up a stateof-the-art institute in Jaipur to show with the polymechanic training the benefits of the dual system o f e d u c a t i o n . T h e polymechanic training is just the beginning of numerous further training courses in other professions. Dr. Joshi and his wife Ursula have the vision to perform in Jaipur a model center of the dual system of vocational education and training involving the enterprises located in Jaipur as well as the Indian industry and the government in general. In fulfilling this vision they are strongly supported by Dr. Joshi’s nine nephews. In addition to the contribution in development of skilled workforce in India, Dr. Joshi takes keen interest in philanthropic activities especially in the field of humanities and medical science. In this context he recently contributed Rs. 6 crore to the Nalanda University for

funding a Chair in the School of Historical Studies. Dr. Joshi and his wife Ursula have also incorporated the charitable Rajendra and Ursula Joshi Educational Society with the purpose of helping needy students and providing medical treatment for poor people in India.

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Bilateral Co-operation

ABB Energizes First Phase of India’s Most Advanced UHVDC Power Link Zurich, Switzerland, Sept 28, 2015 – North East Agra power ‘superhighway’ is world’s first multi-terminal UHVDC transmission system, capable of supplying clean power to 90 million people

BB, the leading power and automation technology group, has energized the first pole of the North-East Agra 800 kilovolts (kV) Ultra-high voltage direct current (UHVDC) transmission link, which will supply clean hydropower from northeastern India to a substation in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, and from there, feed it across north India. The project is being executed by ABB together with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), a leading governmentowned power company, on a turnkey basis, including design, system engineering, supply, installation and commissioning for Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (POWERGRID), India’s central transmission utility. This completes phase one of the project, which enables transfer of up to 1,500 megawatts (MW) of electricity along this link, across a distance of

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1,728 kilometers. When fully commissioned in 2016, the link will become the world’s first multiterminal UHVDC connection, capable of transmitting enough electricity to serve around 90 million people, based on average national consumption. The North-East Agra link will help address the shortage of power in north India by transporting hydropower generated in the Himalayas in the country’s north east. This region has abundant untapped renewable resources, but load centers are thousands of kilometers away and power must pass through a 22-kilometer wide corridor of land bordered by Nepal and Bangladesh on either side. “This is a major milestone in the execution of the landmark NorthEast Agra project, the first multi-

terminal UHVDC transmission link in the world, and underlines ABB’s global leadership in HVDC technology”, said Claudio Facchin, president of ABB’s Power Systems d i v i s i o n . “ We c o n t i n u e t o support India in the development of its power infrastructure and integrating more renewables to bring clean power to millions of people. This is a focus area of our Next Level strategy,” The 6000 MW UHVDC link operating at 800 kilovolts (kV) will have a world record converter capacity with provision for contingencies. The world’s first multi-terminal UHVDC link will have three converter stations – two “sending” stations will convert power from alternating current (AC) to DC for transmission over a single power line that will pass through the narrow corridor and

Bilateral Co-operation deliver it to a “receiving” station in Agra where it will be converted back into AC for distribution to end users. There is also a provision for reversal of power flow from Agra to North-East. The multi-terminal solution considerably reduces costs compared to the alternative of running separate power links from multiple hydropower plants to Agra. UHVDC transmission is a development of HVDC, a technology pioneered by ABB more than 60 years ago and now a preferred solution to transmit large amounts of power over long distances to high consumption centers with minimum losses. Since its inception, ABB has been awarded about 100 HVDC projects, which represents a total installed capacity of more than 120,000 MW and accounts for around half the global installed base. ABB also has an impressive HVDC track record in India, including Rihand-Delhi, the first such project, commissioned in 1990. ABB (www. abb. com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility, industry, and transpor t and infrastructure customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in roughly 100 countries and employs about 140,000 people.

ABB Elevates India Head Bazmi Husain as Global Chief Technology Officer

BB has elevated Bazmi Husain, managing director of ABB India, as the global chief technology officer, the Swiss-engineering major announced Wednesday.

Husain, a power and automation expert who has been with ABB for 30 years, will take over the new position in the beginning of 2016. He will be the first Indian on this position. Prior to him, Ravi Uppal had occupied a top position at ABB group level as the president of global markets. Uppal is now the managing director and chief executive officer of Jindal Steel and Power. The $42 billion-ABB said that the company will appoint a new head for India operations soon. Husain will now report to Group CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. "As Chief Technology Officer, Husain will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of ABB's global R&D, which serves the entire company, its scientists and engineers, and for the R&D activities within ABB's divisions," the company said. Heads of research and development operations at the group and division level as well as ABB's venture capital arm, ABB Technology Ventures would be reporting to Husain. ABB spends $1.5 billion annually on R&D and employs some 8,500 technologists.

"Bazmi Husain's unrivaled know-how will drive technological innovation across multiple disciplines to support our profitable growth ambitions and the paradigm shifts in power and automation," said CEO Spiesshofer. "Innovation is a key element of our Next Level strategy and Husain brings a unique combination of skills and experience to the role of CTO. He has an in-depth understanding of power and automation technologies, and a solid understanding of marketplace dynamics and customer needs. Under his leadership we will continue to apply and develop the 'Internet of Things, Services and People', as well as functional hardware, electronics, software and services to give our customers the full potential of power and automation. "

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Business Interview

ABB Seeks Access to the "Big Transformation" The industry concern considers the change in the power distribution to be achance. They want to double their sales in India

he North-Eastern provinces of India, especially known for their famous tea from the area of Assam, have something more on offer: energy. Hydroelectric power stations will soon produce a lot of energy in the hilly border areas. The electricity flows to Assam and from there in a long line to Agra, the location of the Taj Mahal. The energy giant ABB delivers the technology, in order to deliver the electricity over the enormous distance of 1728 kilometres. Two enormous stations in the North East of India transform it into direct current. This ensures, that the energy can be transported with a smaller loss of energy and less need of space. A third station in Agra transforms the energy into alternating current again in order to distribute it in the existing power supply system. The pipe is going to transport 6000 megawatt by the year 2016. That is, as if at once six nuclear power stations like the one in Gösgen, Switzerland would be launched. This covers the consumption of 90 Million Indian people. However, in a country with 1. 3 Billion inhabitants that is little. 300 Million people have no access at all to electricity and for a further 300 Million, the supply only works unreliably. For ABB the potential in India is enormous – that are pleasing prospects in times, when the Chinese and the U. S. market are weakening. Those two markets contribute on third to the sales of ABB. India is only positioned 7th in the ranking of topselling countries. However, now

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ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer wants to “accelerate”:. The personnel in the location of Chennai is going to be doubled. “India is ahead of a great future” he says. “The target for the team in India is two double the sales in the foreseeable future.

The energy-seeking country is an experimental laboratory Spiesshofer sees an enormous potential for renewable energies especially in the solar sector. At present, still about 70% of the Indian population live in the c o u n t r y s i d e . I n t h e f u t u re ,

however, people are going to move to the cities. “That increases the demand for infrastructure such as a metro system. ” The money for these investments should be available, according to Spiesshofer. “It is possible that big global infrastructure funds are going to invest”, he says. An interesting return on money would await them, he said. They would be involved in talks with such possible investors, he added. “They notice what is going on in India. ” However, the commitment in India is as well of strategic significance. From there, markets from SouthEast Asia to Africa should be supplied with ABB products “made in India”. The country is just as well a laboratory in which research is being carried out, regarding the energy supply technique. This business is under pressure at ABB. Half out of the 16 sites in Switzerland work in this area, such as research in the service or production of control gear semiconductors or parts for transformers. It is criticised, however, that the profit margin is to low. One month ago, the ABB has announced that all activities

The pipe is going to transport 6000 megawatt by the year 2016. That is, as if at once six nuclear power stations like the one in Gösgen, Switzerland would be launched. This covers the consumption of 90 Million Indian people.

Business Interview about questions like how important renewable energies like wind and sun will be in the future. He is convinced, that ABB has a great chance when it comes to traditional network area. He says, that earlier they faced problems as their business model was not perfect. It would not make sense to construct everything by themselves, instead they would rather need to act as prime contractors. When asked whether prices in the direct current market would not come under pressure as there are new providers on the market, he answers, that in fact only a few companies are able to handle the so-called HVDC in the electricity network are centralized in one sector and a strategic review is going to be executed. Some speculate that they may sell the sector. This is very unlikely to happen, however, in view of the ambitious plans in the energy-seeking India. Being that the electricity supply is going through its biggest change in history, the review is understandable, n e v e r t h e l e s s . I n d u s t r y representatives talk about the “big transformation” In the past, the electricity supply was like a waterfall from the pipes to the customer. Today wind and solar power stations make the supply become much more irregular. More and more consumers and producers charge their electric car or take the solar power from the roof. Interview with ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer “Enormous chances in the network area” ABB has presented a micro grid on a customer fair in India. When asked whether this would not be a competence for their own big electricity networks, they build in India, as it is much cheaper, he answer, that he does not have an

opinion on whether it is better to operate with smaller or bigger networks. He just adds, it would be better for ABB that it becomes more and more complex, being that this means better business for them. Then he is asked, whether they wanted to sell the sector electricity supply. He answers that there are a lot of rumours and if all of them had been true, ABB would not have any of their sectors left by now. He adds, that they investigate in how they can stay market leaders and therefore think

technology. In addition to that nobody would spend as much money on development per year, as ABB does. The aim would be to develop technology faster than the competence in order to keep the good market position. Customers would not only be interested in the price but just as much in the quality. If their network would have half a percent less losses in energy than the ones of the competence, this would also mean better sales for their customers, as they would have more electricity available.

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Success Story

Hilti India - Legacy of 20 Years

The Executive Vice President, Mr. Johannes Wilfried Huber of Hilti Corporation explains the growth of Hilti in India over the last two decades

i l t i o f fe r s p ro d u c t s , systems and ser vices that have leading-edge technology and provide professional customers in the construction and energy sectors with innovative solutions that feature outstanding added value. Headquartered in Liechtenstein and with sales of approx. 4.5bn CHF Hilti is active in more than 120 countries. Hilti not only operates several production and R&D facilities, but is also involved in various international technology partnerships. Hilti stands for exceptional innovations, the highest quality and direct customer relationships. Some two-thirds of Hilti’s 22,000 worldwide employees work directly on behalf of customers in Hilti sales organizations and technical service units. They generate more than 200,000 daily interactions with customers, creating the basis for

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the ongoing development of new products and services. Hilti’s mission is to passionately create enthusiastic customers and build a better future. In India, we have built a strong legacy of innovation over the past almost 20 years. We operate two separate organizations in India, one marketing and sales organization and one R&D and production facility for Diamond Inserts. Altogether we employ more than 1.000 people in India We have been present in India with our marketing and sales organization, headquartered in New Delhi, since 1997 and have built up a strong brand in the country known for safety, high quality and performance. We introduced several new construction technologies in the Indian market, including post-

installed fastening and design methods, diamond coring and sawing, and also direct-fastening technologies. With our direct sales teams we reach over 1500 construction and 200 engineering companies every day. We educate engineering teams with seminars, train our customers’ teams on productivity and safety methods, and also work with training institutes to develop the skill level in the industry. Finally, we are playing an active role in driving the standards of construction & fire-safety codes to a higher level through conferences organized in partnership with BIS and other national bodies. Alim Hirani, Managing Director for Hilti India says ‘India is a strong growth story and customers want to use the best technologies and methods available . Our direct sales approach is geared

Success Story towards delivering this innovation in a way that delivers value for our customers and build lasting relationships with them. Our most enthusiastic customers value the expertise and innovation we bring to them every day. Hilti India has its own repair and service operations delivering innovative professional tool services. For the first time in the country, we introduced a 1-yearno-cost service concept that eliminates all maintenance and repair costs after purchasing a tool. For customers interested in productivity and cost-of-ownership this provides great value and eliminates the hassle of maintaining their tool fleet. Our in-house service operation ensures that our customers get authentic parts and a high quality of service that ensures that our products last much longer than competition. This is also a strong signal that we fully believe and stand behind the quality we deliver even in the very tough operating conditions in the Indian construction market. F i n a l ly, o n e o f o u r b i g g e s t differentiators is our people and we invest significantly in our team and building the right culture and capabilities. Our culture is

innovate, and are also accountable then for their results. We do also have strong relationships with universities across the country where we share our knowledge, and recruit our team members and future leaders.

defined as being caring while at the same time being performance oriented. This is built by our leaders truly understanding the development needs of our team members, ensuring assignments that stretch them and demanding a high standard of results. What seems to look like a contradiction between two opposite parameters provides a safe environment where team members are free to take risks,

In 2008, we invested in our manufacturing footprint and bought an R&D and production facility in Navsari, Gujarat. Shyam Raghunandan, Managing Director of Hilti Manufacturing India says ‘We find that India is a great source of talent and innovation. The initiatives by the government to promote manufacturing within the country and the availability of talent make this a highly attractive destination for us to further invest, innovate and produce products for the world. Innovation in India always means working with the resources at hand and delivering the best value for the customer. The highly cotmpetitive environment in India forces us to always have our thinking caps on, understand our customer needs in close partnership with our direct sales teams and continuously innovate to differentiate our offering to customers. We see in India a huge and highly competitive market opportunity, a large source of talent, and finally a hub that can deliver world-class innovation. We are excited to have this opportunity in front of us and look forward to be part of the story of ‘Make in India’.

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Future Strategy

India's Technology Vision 2035 – Putting Science to Use

By S. Y. Syama Prasad* & Virat Majboor*

h e P r i m e M i n i s t e r, M r. N a r e n d r a M o d i unveiled the ‘Technology Vision Document 2035’ while inaugurating the 103rd Indian Science Congress on 3rd January 2016 in Bangalore, Karnataka. The document foresees the Indians of 2035, and technologies required for fulfilling their needs. It is not a visualization of technologies that will be available in 2035, but a vision of where our country and its citizens should be in 2035 and how technology should bring this vision to fruition. The document is dedicated to late Dr. A.P. J. Abdul Kalam, the former President of India. The Prime Minister in his foreword to the document hoped that the 12 Sectoral Technology roadmaps being prepared by Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council, (TIFAC), which is also the author of this ‘Technology Vision 2035’ document, would excite our scientists and decision makers. He also said “India will be the country of young for the next few decades. It is imperative that every youth blossoms to his/her full potential and that the potential is fully tapped for the benefit of the nation. This in turn requires that needs of our children and youth for nutrition, health, knowledge, skill, connectivity and identity are met. Sh. Narendra Modi had called upon the intelligentsia, Universities and think tanks to actively work for fulfilling the vision”. After unveiling this document, in his speech Sh. Modi said that his government intends to integrate Science & Technology into choices

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The Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi delivering the inaugural address at the 103rd Session of Indian Science Congress, in Mysuru on January 03, 2016

it makes and strategies that it pursues. Roadmaps, when prepared, will be presented to the Government of India and they would lead for further adoption of technologies in those sectors. The document says that as technology is for empowering individual citizens, it will empower the country as well. The Aim of this ‘Technology Vision Document 2035’ is to ensure the Security, Enhancing of Prosperity, and Enhancing Identity of every Indian, which is stated in the document as “Our Aspiration” or “Vision Statement” in all languages of the 8th Schedule of the Constitution. The Vision documents also identifies twelve (12) prerogatives- (six for meeting individual needs and six for the collective needs) that should be available to each and every Indian. These are:

Individual Prerogatives:• Clean air and potable water • Food and nutritional security • Universal healthcare and public hygiene • 24x7 energy • Decent habitat The 12 identified sectors of Vision Document are: • Education • Medical Sciences & Healthcare • Food and Agriculture • Water • Energy • Environment • Habitat • Transportation • Infrastructure • Manufacturing • Materials • Information and Communication Technology

Future Strategy To illustrate such mapping here is the table of categorization of various technologies for meeting the need of ‘Clean air and Potable Water’: The vision document also makes a mention of three critical essential prerequisites or Transversal Technologies i.e., materials, manufacturing, and Information and Communication technology (ICT) to provide the foundation upon which all other technologies would be constructed. The document also talks of required infrastructure which it says primarily include relevant knowledge institutions besides ports, highways, airports, railways, cold chains, etc. Among the essential prerequisites, it also mentions fundamental research in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology and other allied sciences. The document dwells upon the grand challenges in the field of Technologies which, it says, we should resolve as a nation. The challenges are:

• Quality education, livelihood and creative opportunities Collective Prerogatives:• • • • • •

• • •

Safe and speedy mobility Public safety and national security Cultural diversity and vibrancy Transparent and effective governance Disaster and climate resilience Eco-friendly conservation of natural resources.

• • •

Assurance of these prerogatives, according to the Vision document, is the core of technology vision for India. For assuring these prerogatives, technologies are mapped as: 1) those readily deployable, 2) those that needs to be moved from Lab to Field, 3) those that require targeted Research and 4) those that are still in Imagination. The last of these category of technologies could come about as a result of curiosity driven or paradigm- shattering ‘Blue-sky’ Research like on Internet of Things,Wearable Technology, Synthetic Biology, Brain computer Interface, Bio-printing and regenerative medicine. Precision agriculture and robotic farming, vertical farming, interactive foods, autonomous vehicles, Bioluminescence, 3D printing of buildings, earthquake prediction, weather modification technologies, green mining etc are some other such technologies expected that would go a long way in sustainably fulfilling the needs of the present and future generations of mankind.

•

• Guaranteeing nutritional security and eliminating female and child anaemia • Ensuring quantity and quality of water in all rivers and aquatic bodies • Providing learner centric, language neutral and holistic education to all Developing commercially viable decentralized and distributed energy for all Making India non-fossil fuel based Securing critical resources commensurate with the size of our country Ensuring universal eco-friendly waste management Taking the railway to Leh and Tawang Understanding national climate patterns and adapting to them Ensuring location independent electoral and financial empowerment.

There has also been a raging debate on the Social Impact of technology and the choice between capital intensive and manpower intensive. Capital intensive technology, especially in India with abundant human resources, has been projected as detrimental to the use of ‘Manpower’ as it is argued that it would reduce jobs. The Vision Document seeks to bust this myth by arguing in favor of judicious policy and conscious planning in employing technology to impart new skills to the manpower and fulfill needs of the society. It visualizes technology as a great leveler rather than as an enhancer of social stratification. In order to overcome these challenges, the Vision Document 2035 envisages a rational assessment of the capabilities and constraints of the Indian

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Future Strategy Technological Landscape . It categorizes technologies into a six-fold classification from an Indian perspective which is as follows: • Technology Leadership – niche technologies in which we have core competencies, skilled manpower, infrastructure and a traditional knowledge base eg. , Nuclear Energy, Space Science. • Technology Independence – strategic technologies that we would have to develop on our own as they may not be

obtainable from elsewhere eg. , Defence sector. • Technology Innovation – linking disparate technologies together or making a breakthrough in one technology and applying it to another e.g., solar cells patterned on chlorophyll based synthetic pathway are a potent future source of renewable energy. • Technology Adoption – obtain technologies from elsewhere, modify them according to local needs and reduce dependence on other sources eg. , foreign collaboration in the sectors

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of rainwater harvesting, agribiotech, desalination, energy efficient buildings. • Technology Constraints – areas where technology is threatening and problematic i. e. having a negative social or environmental impact because of serious legal and ethical issues e.g., Genetically Modified(GM) Crops. The Vision Document, in a separate section, gives a ‘Call to Action’ to all the key stakeholders. It brings

to notice that for long term sustainability of India’s technological prowess, it is important that • Technical Education Institutions engage in advanced research on a large scale leading to pathbreaking innovations. • Government enhances its financial support from the current 1% to the longenvisaged 2% of the GDP. • t h e nu m b e r o f f u l l - t i m e equivalent Scientists in the core research sector should increase. • Private Sector Participation

and Investment in evolving technologies that is readily deployable and is translatable from lab to field thereby increasing efficiency in terms of technology and economic returns. • A c a d e m i a - I n t e l l i g e n t s i a Industry connect is established via idea exchange, innovative curricula design, based on the needs of the industry, industrysponsored student internships and research fellowships inter alia. • Creation of an Research Ecosystem so as to achieve the translation of research to technology product/process by integrating students, researchers and entrepreneurs. The document also identifies three key activities as a part of the ‘Call to Action’. The first being knowledge creation. It says that India cannot afford not to be in the forefront of the knowledge revolution, either applied or pure. The second activity that cannot be reflected, it says is ecosystem design for innovation and development. The document again interestingly says that the primary responsibility for ecosystem design must necessarily rests with government authorities. A third key activity that it mentions is technology deployment with launching certain national missions involving specific targets, defined timelines requiring only a few carefully defined identified players. While this Vision document walks towards the future taking into consideration the country as a whole, the technology roadmap of each sector would provide of outlining future technology trends, R&D directives, pointers for research, anticipated challenges and policy imperatives pertaining to each sector. *Sh. K. Syama Prasad is Addl. Director General, PIB, New Delhi **Mr. Virat Majboor is Asst. Director, PIB, New Delhi

Innovation

India to Develop Car Batteries using Spacecraft Technology By Renu Rangela

team of Indian scientists are working on a possible technological breakthrough that could make clean technology cars such as electric and full hybrids much more affordable in the future. The research is aimed at developing batteries of cars using spacecraft technology. T h e re s e a rc h i s b e i n g undertaken jointly by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), the country's premier vehicle research and testing institute, and the Vikram Sarabhai S p a c e C e n t re ( V S S C ) , reports Business Standard. ARAI andVSSC will design and develop the new spacecraftlike car batteries. ARAI will later offer the technology to carmakers for domestic mass production, which will lead to significant decline in battery costs. India currently imports all its car batteries at a high cost. " T h e c o n c e p t o f u s i n g fo r automobiles the same battery as is used for space vehicles is proved and now with the collaboration with ARAI, it will be tested for actual use in vehicles,” says VSSC director K Sivan. This will significantly cut the cost of battery-run cars, ARAI Director Rashmi Urdhwareshe said. The research will focus on developing

Workers watch the first serial production BMW i3 electric car at the BMW factory in Leipzig

technology in EV/HEV applications for Indian automotive industry and facilitate promotion of green mobility platform, she added, reports the Hindu Business Line. VSSC has successfully lab-tested the technology used to make batteries for space applications for auto-sector applications. ARAI will test it at the vehicle level and will come out with a prototype in about one year’s time. ARAI will also develop battery management system and thermal management

system for the battery to make it safe for the vehicles and passengers. Recent months have witnessed an increased demand for electric cars and hybrids in Indian states of Delhi and Karnataka as a result of state-sponsored incentives. “We have seen an uptick in demand in Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune. This trend will hopefully continue,” said a representative of Mahindra Reva, the makers of India’s only electric car.

In d ia -S w itze r la n d in Focus 2016

Research Education

ETH Zurich – Where Einstein Launched His Career by Anders Hagström, ETH Zürich*

TH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, is one of the world’s leading universities for technology and the natural sciences. It is renowned forits excellent education, ground-breaking fundamentalresearch, and for transferring research results directly intopractice. Founded in 1855, ETH Zurich today has more than 19,000 students from over 110 countries, including 4,000 doctoral students. About 500 professors currently teachand conduct research in engineering, architecture, mathematics,natural sciences, system-oriented sciences, andmanagement a n d s o c i a l s c i e n c e s . E T H Z u r i c h regularlyappears at the top of international university rankings. Twenty-one Nobel Laureates, including Albert Einstein, have studied, taught or conducted research at ETH Zurich, accentuating the excellent reputation of the university.

beyond. Ever since, ETH Zurich has maintained a high percentage of international staff and students and has fostered a culture of openness and international commitment. ETH Zurich is thus a university with a global outlook,where international and multicultural experiences and perspectives are fully integrated into its teaching, discovery, and engagement with society.

Development opportunities are essential for new companies. ETH Zurich is partner of the new Innovation Park in Zurich as a b a s e f o r f u t u re s p i n - o f f c o m p a n i e s . T h e c o m p a n i e s founded at ETH Zurichare among the most successful start-ups in Switzerland. These companies have won numerous awards, making them also highly sought after by major companies in searchof acquisitions. Last year alone, six ETH Spin-offs were acquiredby multinational corporations for a total of more than 500 million Swiss francs.

When researchers and scientists who possess complimentary skills and talent collaborate it fosters excellence. Such collaborations take place primarily through interactions between researchers in the context of their continually growing academic networks around the world. Collaboration with Indian partners is of increasing impor tance . Par tnerhipsspan the whole range of disciplines represented in ETH Zurich’s research portfolio, such as: joint research in engineering with the Indian Institutes of Technology and in materials science and chemistry with the Indian Institute of Science. ETH Zurich scientists also engage in projects with direct impact on urban and rural life. Examples include collaboration in architecture with CEPT University in Ahmedabad, and research to improve crops or to make more efficient use of nutrients, such as zinc and phosphorus, for plants.

Of the 25 ETH Zurich spin-offs founded in 2015,8 grew out of the institute’s Pioneer Fellowship Programme, which provides funding for graduating students seeking to develop an innovative technology into a commercial product. The u n i ve r s i t y a l s o h o u s e s t wo Innovation and Entrepreneurship Labs (ieLab) thatenable young researchers to develop initial prototypes andreceive expert advice from experienced coaches in the industry. Collaboration with India ETH Zurich has a long tradition of international involvement. Among its founders and first professors were intellectuals from neighbouring countries and Photo credits: ETH Zürich / Marco Carocari

ETH Zurich helpsto find long-term solutions to global challenges. The focalpoints of its research include data science, energy supply, risk management, developing the cities of the future, globalfood security and human health. Transferring research results to business and industry is one of ETH Zurich’s primary concerns. Some 80new patent applications are filed each year and over 300 spin-offcompanies have emerged from the institute since 1996, carrying evidenceof the institute’s success in this area. To foster knowledge transfer, ETH Zurich maintains close and collaborative researchrelationships with industry including Disney Research, IBMResearch, Oracle Labs, and Google.

A spirit of innovation with long-term impact

ETH Zurich’s historic main building is located right in the centre of Zurich, the economic centre of Switzerland.

There is also a growing Indian community at ETH Zurich: currently nearly 400 professors, scientific staff, and students from India are part of its academic community. Also, a growing number of ETH Zurich alumni have either returned or chosen to call India home, ensuring a fruitful knowledge transfer between Switzerland and India. * Anders Hagström is Director of Global Education at ETH Zurich

Start-ups to Boost India’s Next Wave of Tech Growth By Rebecca Bundhun

echnology and start-ups are the ones to watch out for this year.

“The growth forecast looks positive, with the Government of India drafting a new policy for start-ups, and initiatives like Digital India gaining momentum,” says BVR Mohan Reddy, the founder and executive chairman of the engineering services firm Cyient and the chairman of India’s National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom).

The number of internet users in India is estimated to have reached 402 million last year, up 49 per cent on the previous year, which meant that India surpassed the United States to the No. 2 spot in terms of users behind China, according to a report by the internet and Mobile Association of India and IMRB International.

The report forecasts that the number of start-ups in India will almost triple from between 4,200 and 4,400 last year to more than 12,000 by 2020.

Digital India is a government initiative to increase internet connectivity in India. B h av i n Tu r a k h i a , t h e founder and chief executive of the internet domain name registrar Directi, says that “the year ahead will see the coming-ofage of” online payment applications.

“ A l t h o u g h t h e m a r ke t h a s suffered in recent times because of considerable backlash against certain start-ups for layoffs, India will continue to grow as a start-up incubator.”

“Average consumer spending on websites will also increase as people make their purchases through various vendors and marketplaces.” Funding in Indian start-ups is estimated to have grown by 125 per cent to US$4.9 billion last year from $2.2bn the previous year, according to a report by Nasscom and the consultant Zinnov.

“In my view, social media, mobility, analytics and the cloud will drive the next wave of growth for the Indian IT industry, aided further by start-ups.”

“India is on the path of becoming the world’s fastest-growing mobile app market, where start-ups, financial institutes and even traditional companies are doing their best to keep up with the fast-changing times,” said Mr. Turakhia.

“The online and e-commerce market in India can be expected to boom as more customers adopt online purchases as their primary medium of shopping,” he continued.

“Technology will drive the growth of the Indian economy,” says Ravitej Yadalam, the chief executive and founder of Pennyful. in, an online coupons and cashback company based in Bangalore. “With Make in India and other initiatives, several low-cost alternatives will soon be expected to hit the markets. “Digital India will lead the way to the growth of the economy and the businesses in the country, he said.

More investment is set to flow into technology and start-ups this year, with increased interest expected from domestic and foreign investors, according t o M r. Tu r a k h i a . T h e I n d i a n online companies Infibeam and Matrimony. com have been given the green light to raise money from the capital markets and this year are expected to raise up to 4.5bn rupees (Dh25 million) and 3.5bn rupees, respectively. “The focus on innovation is steadily increasing, with many software service majors actively looking at buying start-ups and technology companies,” says Ramesh Loganathan, the vice president and managing director of Progress India and the president of the Hyderabad Software Enterprise Association.