The Minister-President of Baden Württemberg will lead a 120-member strong delegation to India in January 2017. The Delegation will consist of a large number of companies and representatives of universities particularly in science and technology. This will be the largest delegation in recent times from a German state to India.
2. This was confirmed today in a meeting between the Minister-President and the Ambassador of India to Germany Gurjit Singh.
3. The Minister-President said that India was a very important country and Baden Württemberg needed to expand its grasp of opportunities in India to a much greater extent. Already a large number of mittlestand companies from the state are in India. They were looking for opportunities in mobility, manufacturing, digital economy, smart cities, water, renewable energy and the like. There are ten companies from Baden Württemberg who have joined the Make in India Mittlestand (MIIM) programme run by the Embassy of India for new companies to invest in India.
4. Mr. Winfried Kretschmann recently led the Green Party to a majority in the state election of March 2016 and rules the state in company of Chancellor Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union. Baden Württemberg is a partner state of Maharashtra and its capital Stuttgart is a partner of Mumbai. The city of Karlsruhe has a relationship with Pune. Thus the delegation will visit Mumbai and Pune as well as Bengaluru where they have a participation at the Machine Tools Exhibition IMTEX. The Minister-President will be accompanied by his Minister for the Economy and the Minister for Transport.
5. Baden Württemberg is the 3rd largest state of Germany as per size and population. Though it lacks natural resources, it is amongst Germany’s most wealthy states with high employment and a large number of big companies including SAP, Bosch, Porche and Daimler. The economy of the state is mainly supported by SMEs who have contributed to its industrialization. The mittlestand or family owned mid-size company is the lynchpin of the economy of Baden Württemberg and they have specialized into different industrial sectors. It is a major contributor to Germany’s GDP and also has a huge export capacity. Nearly 20% of the Germans working in research and development are located in Baden Württemberg. Due to these factors Baden Württemberg is a leading German industrial state whose engagement with India is of special significance.
6. The fact that Mr. Winfried Kretschmann, Minister President is leading a delegation to India within the first year after his re-election manifests the importance which the state attaches to India. A surge in FDI, expansion of trade, greater engagement among universities and an expansion of the areas of cooperation between businesses of Baden Württemberg and of India are the significant outcomes likely from this visit.