SEARCH - Supplement December 2011
29 Opinions & More Foreword
‘GERMAN MANUFACTURERS HAVE TAKEN MAJOR EFFORTS TO CATCH UP WITH THE INDIAN MARKET NEEDS’ India as compared to Germany or in East European countries.
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Nandi, Debasis Mechatronics nze
MD, Le
“These companies need the co-operation and technological know-how of Germany as they have to upgrade their existing technologies to meet the requirements of the German markets,” articulates Debasis Nandi, MD, Lenze Mechatronics, during an interaction with Sumedha Mahorey. Excerpts...
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N INDO-GERMAN TIES
The Indian manufacturing sector has increased the productivity and the quality of the product with automation. With this, Indian manufacturers are attending to the German machine builders. This changing scenario is increasing the business of the automation used in these machines. For example, automotive industry, which was dependent on one or two manufacturers earlier, has now got a cluster of manufacturers. Three to four German manufacturers have started their operations in India for heavy vehicles. Due to the quality of the products, this market is persistently increasing, though the auto market in India has not been doing very well since the last six months.
GERMANY AND INDIA SUCCESS RATE German manufacturers have taken major efforts to catch up with the Indian
market needs, commercially as well as behaviourally. On the other hand, Indian companies are also adapting to the German safety standards and are ready to pay premiums for this. These are some of the major reasons of growth of German manufacturers’ businesses in India. On the other hand, Indian manufacturers who had never thought of presenting their products to the European market are now ready to enter this competitive market. This has been possible as the market has opened due to collaboration and a good understanding between Indian & German manufacturers. This growth is phenomenal. Today, there are many German companies who find mechanical machining and mechanical moulding, forging, casting in India high on quality as these meet German standards and are much economical to produce in
German companies are doing huge business in the Indian textile industry, but I do not see them setting up operations in India. Germans should enter this market as fast as possible as it is one of the major industries in India. Also, packaging and printing are major focus areas where Germans can develop their expertise in India. For Indian companies, foraying into the German market is a challenge because language acts as a barrier. These companies need their cooperation and technical know-how as they have to upgrade their existing technologies to meet the requirements of the German market.
MESSAGE TO GERMAN COUNTERPARTS The German counterparts go in for step-by-step investment, which is a time consuming process. But since the Indian market is growing at a fast pace, German companies need to take quick decisions regarding investing in India.
YOUR PLANS FOR THE INDIAN MARKET We are growing rapidly in the Indian market. This year, we expect added growth as we are putting up a fairly large factory in Pune. This factory will be for the manufacture and assembly of gearbox and geared motors with electronics. We also have a second line of investment coming up in India in the IT sector and are also hiring people and tying up with Indian companies to create software for our global services. We have chosen India as the second location other than Germany to do this job. We have not initiated this project anywhere else in the world. This factory will start functioning by the mid-2012.