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The German industry is looking to invest to the government’s plan to build 100 new cities, insurance, transport especially railways, and vocational training.

A day after he presented the budget, three top leaders of the German industry and business met finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday. Ulrich Grillo, president of Federation of German Industries (BDI), Juergen Fitschen, Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank and president of Association of German banks, as well as Hubert Lienhard, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA) discussed with Jaitley in an hour-long meeting to get ‘first hand impression of the reform agenda of the new government.

Lienhard said the commercial real estate plans that India offers are really encouraging. “Germany will invest in supplies and sub-supplies for the government’s smart city project. The investment could be in the form of renewable energy supplies, water management among others for the smart city projects.”

FDI in insurance and defence are also areas German companies are bullish about, but would like to see technology transfer associated with it.

“Demographics in Europe make it difficult for the business such as insurance to grow. But in this field, India has got a lot of attraction to offer. About 49% is good to begin with but we are expecting more,” said Juergen Fitschen, co-CEO of Deutsche Bank and president of the association of German banks. Hinting at potential German investments in the government’s bullet train project, Fitschen said we can offer support in anything that moves, be it air or rail.

Germany is India’s largest trading partner in Europe. Between 2000 and 2012, the total foreign direct investment in India from Germany was about $5.2 billion. There are at least 1,600 German companies active in India across sectors.

Via:DNAIndia