PM Modi hosts special lunch for Merkel, CEOs; woos investors

Bengaluru: Making a strong business push, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday hosted a "special lunch" for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her delegation with leading Indian CEOs here.

The lunch was attended by several industry biggies including Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group Kumar Mangalam Birla, Tata Consultancy Services CEO N Chandrasekaran, ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and L&T Chief A M Naik, among others.

"PM plays host once again, with a special lunch for Chancellor Merkel with leading Indian CEOs at Bengaluru," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Positioning India as a "bright spot" for investment in the current global slowdown, Modi earlier today assured investors of simple and predictable tax regime as well as IPR protection at an event "Digitizing Tomorrow Together" jointly organised by NASSCOM in association with Fraunhofer.

Speaking to reporters after the "high power" lunch, Tata Consultancy Services CEO N Chandrasekaran said, "I think there is a tremendous momentum, tremendous opportunity across various segments. There is a lot of confidence on both sides on the opportunities that exist and how we can cooperate...."

"....We could visibly see a lot of aspiration from both sides," he added.

Chandrasekaran also said that there is good feeling about India all over the world and it is seen as a "bright spot" among the global economies.

Kochhar said the big take away is Germany realises that India is a very important market and there is clear understanding that lot of steps are being taken towards the ease of doing business and there is also understanding about areas of cooperation.

"As I meet investors, few positive things that are definitely coming out, one is that India clearly stands out amongst the other nations in terms of all the improvements in the macro economic factors....; I think there is whole lot of improvement and stability in the macro economic factors that stands out very positively."

"The other thing that stands out positively is the intent and the direction to derive this move towards ease of doing business. So I think the world is watching India with a lot of interest in the underlying potential..." she added.

Naik said the main purpose of the engagements between

Germany and India was to increase the bilateral trade, improve political relationship and create an environment of friendship, which was more than achieved because there was warmth on both sides.

Asked whether it can be called as fruitful engagements from both the sides, Naik said, "Well I would say it was quite useful."

Five B2B (business-to-business) agreements were also exchanged today in the presence of Modi and Merkel at the event hosted by NASSCOM.

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Infineon Technologies where both parties will develop a joint curriculum for skill development programs in semiconductor manufacturing.

Other MoUs signed include pact between Gujarat International Finance Tec City (GIFT City) and Siemens to support "smart urban mobility solutions for GIFT City"; between TATA Power and Rohde & Schwarz to collaborate in manufacturing software defined secure radio communication systems for military applications.

MoUs were also signed between OPG Power Ventures and IBC Solar AG for developing solar PV projects to generate 1000 MW of solar energy in India in the next 7 years; and between HMT and Fraunhofer for their collaboration in improving the design of machine tools through research and new technologies to improve industrial productivity.