The economic and financial crisis, which rapidly spread worldwide in the autumn of 2008, did not hit India and Germany entirely unexpectedly. The poor credit rating of the Americans was already so strongly in the global public focus that this had to inevitably lead to a reinventing of the so-called and much admired “American way of life.“ In an interview with the German daily FAZ, Deepak Parekh, one of the most experienced and reputed Indian bankers, had already predicted the crash in ...

India is among the fastest growing economies in the world. Swift economic assistance from the government and a stable domestic demand, thanks to a rapidly growing middle class, have enabled India to emerge from the economic crisis almost unscathed. Experts estimate a growth rate of eight percent for 2010 again. For companies from the West, reasons to invest in India include a well educated workforce as well as high quality standards. And India’s need for better infrastructure, clean wate...

India is booming. Now German companies have to ensure that they do not miss their chance to enter the Indian market and that they get their business model right. Merely having a good idea is not enough on its own. To be successful, they have to understand the Indian market and be able to adapt to it.

India is one of the few regions on Earth whose economy is growing despite the worldwide economic crisis. India will offer even greater potential when the crisis is behind us: even...

In November 2008, Deutsche Börse AG and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) concluded a cooperation agreement in which both partners agreed to simplify access to their stock exchanges for companies of the respective other market. Currently, a total of 30 Indian companies are included in the Open Market trading of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE). The following article addresses the advantages and particularities of a listing of Indian companies on the FSE, which is operated by Deutsche Bör...

The air traffic infrastructure for the German capital region Berlin-Brandenburg is ensured with the Schoenefeld and Tegel airports. From 2011, the entire traffic will be concentrated on the new capital-airport Berlin-Brandenburg International BBI. After the record results of 2008 that saw 21.4 million passengers, the world economic crisis of 2009 also left its impact on Berlin. However, comparisons with other German airports have shown that the passenger decline at Berlin’s airports is l...

Indians hold the skills of Germany’s automotive industry in high esteem. Many of them make all reasonable efforts to become a direct vendor to a German OEM or one of the large tier-1 suppliers. While there are not many effective instances yet in the market one cannot fail to see rapid progress in the wake of India’s industrial growth and the recent appearance of more German OEMs on India’s automotive stage.

As a result, Indian entrepreneurs analyse how they can have the...

The Indian legal fraternity is experiencing heated debates on opening up of the legal service sector to foreign law firms. Amidst this speculation, to establish their foothold if and when the market opens for them, many optimistic foreign law firms are doing their groundwork by recruiting Indian lawyers and opening up India desk. In fact, in the 1990s the then Ashurst Morris Crisp (now Ashurst), Chadbourne & Parke and White & Case were granted licences by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to...

Indian companies are well known to be the most active emerging market-based companies doing major global acquisitions in developed economies. Germany has been one of the major destinations of Indian investments in the last years. Although India has not been hit as hard by the financial crisis as many Western countries, the slowdown had an impact on the operations of Indian companies so that new investments had to be reconsidered. Therefore, the aim should be to provide all necessary elemen...

Historically, India has been an important market for companies around the world, and the increasing growth in India's consumer driven economy has resulted in multinational companies establishing a variety of ventures in India. A large amount of such ventures deal with technology, in the fields of information technology, research and development, contract manufacturing, technology transfers, clinical trials, licensing and franchising, etc. Therefore, it is very important for such investors ...

The Indian Contract Act, 1872 (the “Act”) is the primary law governing contracts in India. The Act is principally based on the common law of England. Except for very few amendments, the Act has withstood the test of time over a period of 137 years. Even in this age of information technology and bio technology, the contracts are governed by the Act. In the absence of specific data protection legislation in India, even the terms and conditions in a contract relating to data protection an...

Liberalisation
India, one of the largest democracies in the world has become a very important player in the global economy post liberalisation since 1991. The liberalisation has resulted into more foreign investments, ever buzzing capital market and improved and reformed trade regime.

Foreign Investment
The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Security by a Person Resident Outside India) Regulations, 2000 (“...

India has always been an attractive centre for manufacturing and engineering industry. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100% is permitted under the automatic route in almost all manufacturing activities except certain specified sectors. Further, there are certain items reserved for manufacturing by only Small Scale Industries (SSI) and FDI in these companies is restricted only to 24%. At present, 79 items are reserved for the SSI sector. The government is contemplating relaxing the 24...

Franchise rightly claims to be the wave of future business in India. A huge consumer base of over a billion people including a flourishing class of urban consumers having substantial disposable income with quality and brand awareness together with the attraction, which the Indian economy holds in terms of its human resources, has been instrumental in attracting foreign enterprises to the country. Though franchising business in India has witnessed impressive growth of around 30% to 35% over...

The competition regime in India has undergone a complete change in the recent years resulting in the introduction of the new legislation, viz.: The Competition Act, 2002.

The Competition Act replaces the Monopolies & the Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 (MRTP). MRTP was the first piece of legislation aimed at regulating free and unfettered trade in India. The MRTP focused on curbing monopolies, and regulating restrictive trade practices and unfair trade practices which h...

The Technology-Media-Telecom (TMT) sector in India has experienced robust growth over the last decade. The Government of India has provided the sector its much needed impetus to investment and growth by opening up or relaxing the entry barriers for foreign investments (foreign direct investments/FDI as well as indirect investments) in certain important areas. Today, the TMT sector provides investment opportunities in areas as diverse as software development, hardware, outsourcing, movies, ...

Technology transfer is a sensitive issue. Technology may be an intellectual property right (‘IPR’) of the originator, whether registered as a right or not. Development of technology involves significant costs and any transfer (as assignment, license or otherwise) of technology without proper legal protection can lead to misuse by the recipient without effective remedy being available to the originator. Any misuse causes huge financial loss as the originator is not able to enjoy the rig...

“Germany is virtually an immigration country” – stated former president of the German Parliament Rita Süssmuth, and a growing number of today’s migrants belong to the Indian outsourcing industry. Even during the global financial crisis Germany’s economy suffers from a shortage of engineering personnel as 24,000 engineering job openings have been listed early in 2010 – many of them being in the IT sector. Indian IT providers may step into that gap and send their personnel abroa...

The global economic crisis is hitting Germany hard. More and more companies are facing problems to meet their financial obligations. Strategic investors as well as buyout firms with distressed assets focus and considerable amounts of uninvested funds sometimes under pressure to deploy their capital are looking for acquisition opportunities. However, the structuring of an acquisition entails various pitfalls especially in connection with the legal particularities prior to and after the ...

India’s economy has become a global force, but it will have to continue to adapt to the changing circumstances of global competition if it is to continue to thrive in the future. The challenge before India is to develop a training system that will enable employers to find the skilled labour inputs they need to grow and succeed. At the same time, unskilled workers must be empowered to develop skills in a trade and become upwardly mobile participants in the economy. There is currently a su...

Since 1950, India is a parliamentary democracy and the largest democracy in the world. The country has in the last few years made rapid progress to become one of the world economic powers. In Asia, the emerging country is of paramount significance along with China. The goal of InWEnt is to support India’s contribution in solving global issues of the future. In so doing, the focus is on promotion of strategic partnerships, construction of networks for sustainable development and regional ...

Only in unity with Asia can we solve future global challenges. This insight shapes the 12th Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business as the leading event of German business in Asia. From 13th to 15th May this conference is taking place in Singapore, and is organised by the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad in the Asia-Pacific region (AHKs). Dr Jürgen Hambrecht, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA) who chairs the conference together with Mr Rainer Brüderle, F...

The IGCC has been established under the Indian Companies' Act VII of 1913 and was incorporated on January 14, 1956. IGCC is a non-profit organisation with its head-office in Mumbai, branch offices in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Pune and a liaison office in Düsseldorf.

Around 80 Indian and German professionals in all IGCC offices are active in promoting Indo-German economic cooperation. Today, with more than 6,500 members, IGCC is the largest bi-national Chamber abr...

Independent Platform for Asia-Pacific
The German Asia-Pacific Society (DAPG) has facilitated business contacts in the Asia-Pacific area for 25 years. It was founded in 1985 by significant economic, scientific and political figures, and today its network of advisers and experts, who encourage, support and assist business processes, stretches all across Germany. The Society has established itself as a centre of expertise, especially for small and medium-sized businesse...