India-Austria business meeting brings together wide spectrum of sectors

Austria-India bilateral ties: Austria values the Indian startup ecosystem as one of the most vibrant in the world, said Martin Kocher, Minister of Labour and Economy, Austria.  Kocher said that there are cooperation opportunities in renewable energy, smart cities, audio-visual and films, tourism and other sectors. 

He was addressing the India-Austria Business Forum in Vienna organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and Federation of Austrian Industries in conjunction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Austria. 

The discussion centred around three areas of sustainability, resilient supply chains,and technology with about 30 Austrian companies and 11 Indian companies present. 
Talking about India-Austria trade relations, R K Singh, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Investments and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India said, “The two-way trade between India and Austria is worth about USD 2 Billion, it is relatively well balanced.”

Singh further said, “Most MNCs who have invested in India, including many European ones who have stayed the course have reaped rich dividends in terms of outshining their parents both in terms of topline and bottom-line expansion, profitability as well as enterprise value.” 

Sanjiv Puri, President, CII highlighted that Indian companies are keen to explore investment opportunities in Austria across areas such as R&D, AI, and software in sustainability areas for addressing the European market. 

“We must encourage two-way cooperation in sustainable agriculture, water treatment and food processing. In critical areas in sustainability cooperation of circularity, adaptation to weather disruptions and biodiversity, Austrian technology partnerships can help India in these areas through AI, advanced sensors and other new tech instruments,” added Puri. 

R Dinesh, Immediate Past President, CII discussed opportunities for collaborations in areas such as manufacturing, construction, logistics, and the India-EU trade agreement in particular. “Indian industry believes that Austria is a vital partner in its globalisation journey," said Dinesh. 

Tejpeet Chopra, President and CEO, Bharat Light & Power Private Ltd. underscored the opportunities in innovation, automation and startupsamongst the two countries.
Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII said that the two countries should work on short term mobility and technical training programs for meeting skill gaps in Austria. 

Austrian companies highlighted the opportunities in India and shared their experiences on working in India. Indian companies included startups in sectors such as space and robotics as well as companies in renewable energy and automotives.

PM’s clarion call 

India and Austria share strong historic relations, backed by the shared value of democracy and this forum will help to give strategic frame to the relations, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the India-Austria Business Forum in Vienna, Austria. The event was organized by Confederation of Indian Industry in partnership with the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and Federation of Austrian Industries.

The Prime Minister urged that along with governments of both countries, the private sector should also strengthen collaboration between them. On one hand, India has a strong manufacturing base and a skilled workforce. On the other hand, Austria has a strong technological ecosystem. These together will give rise to a spectrum of possibilities for both countries, said PM Modi. 

The Prime Minister stated that India has a lot to offer with reforms such as ease of doing business, structured reforms, reduction in compliance burden, tax reforms, and reduction in corporate tax.

The government of India is looking forward to many more initiatives which are growth-oriented, said the Prime Minister. PM Modi said that Austria is already India’s partner in many areas and urged all to leverage the upcoming opportunities and foster stronger collaboration.

India is the third largest start-up ecosystem with over one lakh startups, over 100 unicorns and Austria is a start-up hub. The Prime Minister urged the two countries to create a joint hackathon. India is moving towards achieving 500 GW of renewable energy, Hydrogen Mission, India is a fintech hub with an unparallel digital public infrastructure including Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which is connecting the world. 

The Prime Minister said that Make in India and Make for the World has been the motto of the Indian Government.