BackForeign investors more optimistic since Modi govt took over: German ambassador
The 12-14 April Germany visit will be the first interaction between Narendra Modi and Angela Merkel this year
Premium
New Delhi: Foreign investors are now more optimistic about India due to changes brought about in the 10 months that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been in office, German ambassador Michael Steiner said on Wednesday.
“The climate in India has indeed changed. There is more optimism now, a greater confidence, there is also investment coming into India...the mood has changed," Steiner said. He was briefing reporters ahead of Modi’s visit to Germany starting Sunday.
Steiner’s comments would be welcome to the government because Modi’s visit to France, Germany and Canada beginning Thursday is aimed at wooing foreign investment to boost economic growth and provide jobs to the estimated 12 million youth who enter the Indian labour market every year.
“If I were to pick a common theme for these destinations, I think you would all appreciate these three countries are all G-7 (Group of Seven) countries, industrialized democracies," foreign secretary S. Jaishankar told reporters. “We have a considerable economic interest in partnering these countries; they are very relevant to a lot of our national development programmes."
The highlight of the Germany visit will be Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel jointly inaugurating the Hannover industrial fair, one of the biggest of its kind in the world. Some 400 Indian companies have taken 7,000 sq. m of space at the fair to showcase the best of local technology and expertise, Jaishankar said.
The 12-14 April Germany visit will be the first interaction between Modi and Merkel this year. Merkel will be travelling to India in October, Steiner said.
India is the partner country in 2015 as it was in 2006 at the Hannover industrial fair, which boasts of 6,000 exhibitors and 200,000 visitors over a week. Partner countries in the past have included Russia and China. In the 2006 event, business worth $1.3 billion was generated, Steiner said.
The fair aims to showcase India as a design, innovation, manufacturing and export hub, besides depicting it as a “vibrant investment destination" and “demonstrate the depth of what India has to offer as a manufacturing partner", the commerce ministry said in a statement.
Trade minister Nirmala Sitharaman, urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, junior skill development and entrepreneurship minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, communications and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and energy minister Piyush Goyal will accompany Modi on the German leg of his overseas tour, Steiner said. In a first, the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Meghalaya will also be part of Modi’s delegation, as also some 110 business leaders, the ambassador said.
Reaching Berlin on Monday afternoon, Modi will tour the Siemens technical academy. Another of Modi’s engagements in Berlin on Tuesday before departing for Canada will be to tour the Central Train Station, considered the biggest in Europe, which was opened in 2006.
“Railways is an issue which is of deep interest to the government," Jaishankar said, adding that modernization of Railways would have a multiplier effect on the Indian economy.
From Germany, Modi will travel to Canada, where he will visit Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. Canada is the 11th largest economy in the world and its top five pension funds together are worth $700 billion, according to S. Swaminathan, additional secretary in charge of the Americas division in the foreign ministry.
“The overall objective of the visit is to elevate, diversify and deepen and impart new vigour through concrete steps," he said.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
