by Anil Rikhye, Consultant, Business & Trade
Renuka Cavadini and Beat Ineichan
On Thursday the 10th of January the Geneva Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIG), the Office for the Promotion of Industries and Technologies (OPI) and the Swiss-India Business Forum (SIBF) in partnership with Bioalps organized an information evening for Swiss companies interested in being part of an economic mission to visit India from 3rd to 10th March 2013. In keeping with current trends, the focus of the visit will be to explore potential Indo-Swiss collaboration, primarily in the Biotech and Cleantech sectors.
Beat Ineichan (photo, right), Senior Consultant India, Osec got the ball rolling with an excellent economic overview of India and made some important points : Switzerland is India’s 3rd largest trading partner after China and the United States; 250 Swiss companies are currently present in India; and 50% of all Indians will be under the age of 30 in 2013, the so called ‘demographic dividend’ which some observers refer to as the ‘youth bomb’, describing the potential consequences if the Government is unable to provide suitable education, infrastructure and jobs.
This was followed by presentations from Claude Joris who recently took over as the General Manager of BioAlps and Pierre Renaud, Director of Planair and a member of the last delegation that visited India in 2009. Both presentations generally dealt with the current state of the Biotech Sector in India (estimated revenue in 2011 was US$ 4 billion and is expected to rise to US$ 10 billion by 2015) and the challenges facing entrepreneurs wanting to enter the Indian market. According to Mr Renaud, with its insatiable demand there is a huge potential in India for all forms of renewable energy, electricity generation and all types of air conditioning and temperature control.
The delegation will be escorted by Renuka Cavadini (photo, left) of the Swiss-India Business Forum who also accompanied the last delegation in 2009. She presented the provisional programme with projected visits to Delhi, Pune and Bangalore, but also made the point that visits and destinations could be modified to suit the specific requirements of delegates and that they could also cater for interests in sectors other than Biotech and Cleantech. More information about the mission is available on the SIBF website or by contacting SBIF directly. A comprehensive package consisting of international and domestic flights, transfers, hotels and meals has been posted and a minimum number of 10 delegates need to register for the mission to go ahead. Interested parties were requested to confirm their participation as early as possible to facilitate the logistics and organisation.
Finally, to round off a pleasant and informative evening, and as an agreeable foretaste of better things to come for members of the mission, samosas were served with some soft drinks at the reception that followed the presentations.
