On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to Germany, he will jointly inaugurate the Hannover Messe 2015 with Chancellor Angela Merkel. India is a partner country at the Hannover Fair this year, and a record 300+ Indian companies including “India Inc.” as well as a dozen Indian State Governments will be participating. It is the perfect setting for Prime Minister Modi to explain his “Make in India” policy to a German audience and to the industrial world at large.
The European Union is India’s biggest trading partner, and Germany has the major share in it. German companies are among the largest foreign employers in India, and Germany is the second largest destination in Europe for Indian FDI. But the German contribution to India’s growth is still under-explored, particularly in the area of skilling, a German expertise. India needs to create over 5 million jobs per annum through an effective skilling system. Can Germany’s Dual System of Vocational Education and Training be replicated for India’s needs? Can German technological initiatives on green energy, smart grids and waste management serve as templates for India? How can German expertise on renewable energies benefit India? What are the various ways through which Germany can contribute to India’s development agenda?
On 19 March Gateway House hosted an event on Modi in Hannover: What can Germany ‘Make in India’? The panel included Michael Siebert, Consul General, Germany, Baba Kalyani, Managing Director, Bharat Forge Limited, Sunil Mathur, Chief Executive Officer, Siemens, moderated by Manjeet Kripalani, Executive Director, Gateway House.
Michael Siebert is the Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Mumbai since 2012. Prior to this, he has been the Head for Cultural and Media Relations with Asia, Australia, Africa and Latin America. A career diplomat, he has served in German embassies in London, Washington D.C. and Nigeria. Mr. Siebert has also been the Deputy Director for Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Caucasus, Federal Chancellery, Berlin.
Baba Kalyani is the Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Forge Limited. Having joined in 1972, under his leadership, the company has transformed with 8 manufacturing facilities spread across India, Germany and Sweden. Mr. Kalyani serves on the Boards of many prestigious companies and represents industry on several Industry, Trade and Educational institutions in India and abroad. He is the Founder Chairman of Pratham Pune Education Foundation, an NGO that is engaged in providing primary education to children belonging to under privileged sections of the local community. Mr. Kalyani is also steering a unique initiative to empower rural youth at a Taluka in Pune district by providing free technical and vocational training at a government Industrial Training Institute that is being run as a Public-Private partnership.
Mr. Kalyani is a recipient of the distinguished Padma Bhushan, and has received several other prestigious honours. Mr. Kalyani is a Mechanical Engineer from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science at Pilani, Rajasthan. He also has an M.S. in Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.
Sunil Mathur is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens Ltd. Mr. Mathur earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Punjab University and is a Chartered Accountant. He has been with Siemens for over 26 years, holding several senior management positions in Germany and the UK in the Energy and Industry Sectors. Starting his career in the Internal Audit team in Delhi in 1987, he moved on to join the Business Administration Group in the Energy Sector. He was Cluster CFO for South Asia in July 2008 and was Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of Siemens Ltd. from December 2008 till December 2013. During his stint as the CFO of
Siemens India, Mr. Mathur was part of Siemens AG CFO’s Management Team that consisted of the Sector CFOs, the Heads of the Corporate Departments and selected Country CFOs.
Manjeet Kripalani is the former India Bureau chief of Businessweek magazine. During her extensive career in journalism (BusinessWeek, Worth and Forbes magazines), she has won several awards, including the Gerald Loeb Award, the George Polk Award, Overseas Press Club and Daniel Pearl Awards. Kripalani was the 2006-07 Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, New York, which inspired her to found Gateway House. Her political career spans being the deputy press secretary to Steve Forbes during his first run in 1995-96 as Republican candidate for US President, to being press secretary for the Lok Sabha campaign for independent candidate Meera Sanyal in 2008. She holds two bachelor’s degrees from Bombay University and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University. She sits on the board of the International Centre for Journalists, the Overseas Press Club, and the Indian Liberal Group, which are all non-profit organisations.
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