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Modi, Merkel seek to give economic muscle to Indo-German ties
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SME Times News Bureau | 07 Oct, 2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on
Tuesday sought to give a new direction to bilateral ties by
strengthening economic and business links as Indian and German companies
signed five agreements and automotive giant Bosch announced Rs.650
crore investments in India.
Modi exhorted German industry to
invest and 'Make in India' for a growing domestic market and huge export
markets the world over, while Merkel exuded great confidence that ties
would see a quantum leap.
Flagging the opportunities, ranging
from building 50 million houses to setting up 100 smart cities, Modi
said German investors and companies could also explore modernisation of
the vast state-run railway network and stations to setting up of new
railway corridors.
"Generation of 175 gw (giga watt) of renewable
energy to construction of transmission and distribution networks,
national highways, bridges, and metro rails are among the investment
opportunities beckoning the robust German industry," he said.
Digital
India, Skill India and Startup campaigns were showcased to the high
profile business delegation accompanying Merkel, who began a three-day
official visit Sunday night.
Indian and German companies signed
five agreements on smart mobile urban solutions, Software Defined
Radios, development of solar projects, skills development in electrical
semi conductors and collaboration in machine tools on Tuesday.
Earlier
in the day, Bosch Ltd announced that Rs.650 crore would be invested in
India for developing its innovation network when Modi and Merkel visited
its establishment here.
At the Indo-German summit themed
"Digitizing Tomorrow Together", Modi assured global investors on the
ease of doing business in India and addressed taxation concerns which
many of them have.
Modi assured India would not resort to
retrospective taxation, noting it had not levied minimum alternative tax
(MAT) on foreign portfolio investors and deferred implementing the
General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) by two more years.
He said
they were hopeful of rolling out the Goods and Services Tax Bill from
April 2016, and also announced a new bankruptcy code to hasten the pace
of liquidation in stress cases.
"We are working on a new
bankruptcy code and a company law tribunal will be set up to improve
ease of doing business in India with a transparent and predictable tax
regime," Modi said
Stressing that the government had no business
to be in business, he said the country was committed to protect
Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) of all innovators and entrepreneurs.
In
her address at the summit, Merkel said here country is interested in
partnering with India in skill development, railways, infrastructure,
energy, mobility and training.
"India needs highly skilled jobs
and Germany needs highly skilled labour. In the framework of Skill India
we need business links, science links and political links," she said.
Terming
India as the silicon valley of Asia, she said 170 German companies are
operating in Bengaluru and nearly 1,600 companies all over India, some
of which are older than 100 years.
Merkel also highlighted that
Indo-German bilateral trade reached up to 60 billion euros and with a
business volume of 10 billion Euros through German companies in India,
Germany has become an important investor.
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Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
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66.20
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64.50 |
UK Pound
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87.50
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84.65 |
Euro
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78.25
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75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
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