swiss label india
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swiss label india
SWISS LABEL India www.swisslabel.ch Avril 2008 ® Summary SWISS LABEL Die Armbrust lebt Massimo Baggi, Head of Sector Asia/Oceania .................................................................................. 10 Interview mit Bruno Zuppiger, Präsidentin SWISS LABEL .............................................. 02 SWISS INDIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE “India is the place to be!” SWISS LABEL The crossbow lives on Michaël Enderle, Vice-President .............................................................................................................................. 11 Interview with Bruno Zuppiger, SWISS LABEL President .................................................. 03 SWISS-INDIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE EDITORIAL - Switzerland and India, a long history ............................ “We are working to make the very long-standing economic 04 - 06 relations between our two countries permanent” M. Franz Probst, Attorney-at-law, LL.M. Président ...................................................................... 12 SWISS EMBASSY IN INDIA “To see this great country blossom and progressing is OSEC a fascinating experience” Why does India interest Swiss small and medium sized Dominique Dreyer, Ambassador ............................................................................................................................ 07 enterprises? Mr. Christian Watts, Regional Director of Osec in Dubaï for India, Middle East and Africa ........................................................................................................................................................ 13 INDIAN EMBASSY IN SWITZERLAND “There is no ambassador happier than I am!” Amitava Tripathi, Ambassador .................................................................................................................................... 08 COMPANY PROFILES ............................................................................................................................ 14-30 SWISS EMBASSY IN INDIA INDEX .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 31 “Indian market offers great opportunities for Swiss companies” Daniel Freihofer, Economic Counsellor .......................................................................................................... 09 SECO “India is currently living through a very fascinating period in its long history” Editeur : COM CONSULTING SA 40a, rue Fritz Courvoisier - CH-2300 La Chaux-de-Fonds Tél. : +41(0)32 967 95 83 - Fax : +41(0)32 967 95 96 - E-mail : info@comconsulting. ch Rédaction : Madame Anita Panzer - Madame Perle Scemla - Monsieur Peter Stöferle Coordination : Color 36 - C.E. Impression/Printing : Color 36 - C.E. Avril 2008 Toute reproduction, même partielle, des articles publiés dans ce numéro, nécessite explicitement le consentement écrit de l’éditeur. Swiss Label India 3 SWISS LABEL Die Armbrust lebt Interview mit Bruno Zuppiger, © SWISS LABEL Präsidentin SWISS LABEL WAS IST SWISS LABEL? “SWISS LABEL und COM CONSULTING SA” Fünf Fragen an Nationalrat Bruno Zuppiger, Präsident von SWISS LABEL 4 Warum soll ein Unternehmen überhaupt bei SWISS LABEL mitmachen? Die Mitglieder identifizieren sich mit den freiheitlichen und unternehmerfreundlichen Zielen von SWISS LABEL, sie legen ein klares Bekenntnis zum Produktions- und Arbeitsplatz Schweiz ab. Dank dem klaren Herkunftslabel der Armbrust heben sie sich von der Konkurrenz ab, was ihre Marktchancen erhöht. Zudem profitieren unsere Mitglieder von einer Gratis-Erstberatung in markenrechtlichen Fragen. Ist Ihr Markenzeichen, die Armbrust, nicht veraltet? Nein, mit der Armbrust grenzen wir uns vom viel benutzten und oft missbräuchlich verwendeten Schweizerkreuz ab. Die Armbrust ist ein starkes Symbol für schweizerische Werte wie Qualität, Zuverlässigkeit, Sicherheit und Bodenhaftung. Wenn unsere Mitglieder ihren Kunden die Geschichte und den hohen Symbolcharakter der Armbrust erklären, können sie gleichzeitig Werbung für ihr Unternehmen und ihre Produkte machen. Bürgt die Armbrust auch für Qualität? Die Armbrust ist primär ein Herkunfts- und nicht ein Qualitätslabel. Wir sind uns aber bewusst, dass die Schweiz mit hoher Qualität assoziiert wird. Deshalb verlangen wir von unseren Mitgliedern als Minimum die Einhaltung der branchenüblichen Qualität. Seit dem letzten Jahr führen wir bei ausgewählten Mitgliedern nach dem Stichprobenverfahren ein einfaches Audit durch - ohne viel Bürokratie und Papierkram notabene. Wie stehen Sie zur geplanten Revision des Wappenschutzgesetztes? Wir unterstützen diese Revision, da das Wappenschutzgesetz immer weniger eingehalten wird; Missbräuche sind an der Tagesordnung. So erscheint das Schweizerkreuz immer wieder auch auf Produkten, die nicht mehr in der Schweiz hergestellt werden. SWISS LABEL hat alles Interesse daran, dass hier klare Regeln geschaffen und dann auch durchgesetzt werden. Die Revision bietet auch eine Chance, die Armbrust vom Schweizerkreuz besser abzuheben. Wo steht SWISS LABEL in fünf Jahren? Ich bin optimistisch für die Zukunft. In den letzten vier Jahren konnten wir die Mitgliederzahl mehr als verdoppeln. Es ist unser Ziel, die führende Herkunftslabel-Organisation in der Schweiz für die Wirtschaft zu werden. Gerade in der heutigen Zeit der zunehmenden Globalisierung und des ständigen Wandels wächst das Bedürfnis nach einer klaren Herkunftsidentifikation von Produkten und Dienstleistungen. Swiss Label India SWISS LABEL The crossbow lives on ® Interview with Bruno Zuppiger, SWISS LABEL President WHAT IS SWISS LABEL? “SWISS LABEL and COM CONSULTING SA” Five questions to Swiss National Councillor Bruno Zuppiger, President of SWISS LABEL Why should a company join SWISS LABEL? Our members identify with the liberal pro-business objectives of SWISS LABEL, so making a clear commitment to Switzerland as a centre of production and work. Using the crossbow as an unmistakable symbol of origin allows them to stand out from the competition, so improving their chances in the market. In addition, our members benefit from a free initial consultation about issues of trademark law. Isn’t your trademark, the crossbow, a bit dated? No, with the crossbow we can distance ourselves from the Swiss Cross, which is commonly used - indeed often misused. The crossbow is a strong symbol of Swiss values such as quality, safety, reliability and tradition. When our members tell their customers about the history and highly symbolic character of the crossbow, this allows them to promote their own company and products at the same time. Is the crossbow also a guarantee of quality? The crossbow is first and foremost an indication of origin and not a quality label. We are however aware that Switzerland is associated with high quality. For this reason, we ask our members to at least comply Swiss Label India with the quality level customary in their branch. Since last year we have been performing simple audits as spot checks on selected member companies - without a great deal of bureaucracy or paperwork, it should be noted. What is your position on the planned revision of the law governing coats of arms? We are in favour of such revision as the current law on coats of arms is being flaunted more and more; misuse is the order of the day. The Swiss Cross is increasingly appearing on products that are no longer manufactured in Switzerland. SWISS LABEL has every interest in ensuring that clear rules are laid down and enforced here. Revision also offers us an opportunity to make a clearer distinction between the crossbow and the Swiss Cross. Where will SWISS LABEL be in five years? I am optimistic about the future. In the last four years we have managed to more than double the number of members. It is our aim to become the leading origin label organisation for industry in Switzerland. Particularly in today’s day and age of increasing globalisation and constant change there is a growing need for the clear identification of products and services by origin. 5 Editorial Switzerland and India, a long history “I ndia is the place to be” remarked one of the contributors to this magazine. This is a statement that is confirmed day after day. If you don’t mind clichés, there are many more of them in praise of what no longer needs demonstrating: India’s unstoppable rise into the big league as its outstanding economic success and high quality trade arouse desire, even envy in the Western world. It is said that India is likely to join the exclusive, trillion-dollar club in 2008. The 9 members of this club - USA, Japan, Germany, China, UK, France, Italy, Spain and Canada - should soon be joined by Brazil, South Korea and India. The last of these, according to the International Monetary Fund, will overtake South Korea within a year. Indeed, the Indian government predicts even faster growth than the 9.2% forecast by the IMF for 2006-2007, with $850 billion. So the country is said to be in a position to become the biggest economic power in Asia, ahead of China and Japan. It is hoping for 11.3% growth in the manufacturing sector and 11.2% for services, which is huge compared to the 2.7% growth predicted for agriculture. The first figure is hardly surprising when you consider that in steel alone India is becoming a leader, with the hope of producing some 200 million tonnes per annum between now and 2020, compared with the 41 million tonnes produced today. 6 TWO COUNTRIES MORE LIKE EACH OTHER THAN ONE WOULD IMAGINE If you ignore the most glaring difference - the wealth of one and the poverty of the other - there are good reasons for thinking that India’s huge leap forward could soon help to fight the crushing poverty of a large proportion of the population. (It is pointed out later that Switzerland is contributing to this fight through aid programmes and sixty or so NGOs). Now, the common factors - pride in living in a democracy, the number of different languages and hence of different ethnic groups, economic opportunities and a high level of education - which encourage the leaders of both countries to work closely together, especially in the creation of centres of excellence in cutting edge technologies. A HISTORIC ALLIANCE The celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the friendship treaty between Switzerland and India gave the Swiss Label magazine an opportunity to review the steadily increasing trade and contact on both sides. There is nothing nicer for a journalist than to interview officials and heads of companies who are completely happy about the current situation and prospects. “I am a happy ambassador”, Mr. Amitava Tripathi, Indian Ambassador in Switzerland, told us. When people almost everywhere are talking about serious economic and financial crises, these almost euphoric economic statements are cheering. Anyone astonished at this friendship between two such different countries should remember that it is the genuine fascination with each other’s culture that first brought them closer. Since the early 20th century Swiss artists and intellectuals have embarked on long visits to India to learn about the many aspects of its splendour, history and philosophy. In 1938 during a study trip to India, one of the luminaries of psychoanalysis, Carl Gustav Jung, picked up three honorary doctorates, from the universities of Allahabad, Varanasi (Benares) and Calcutta. Artists and writers visiting ashrams on the sub-continent have described their experiences in numerous books and other works. Swiss and Indian senior dignitaries have taken pleasure in exchanging ideas and devising projects. In 1851, for example, the Volkart brothers opened the Volkart Trading Company in Bombay and in Winterthur on the same day. So there is nothing surprising about the fact the first Prime Minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru, decided to sign his first treaty of friendship with Switzerland, on 14 August 1948. The first trade mission opened on 1 April 1947, becoming a Mission in 1948 then an embassy in 1957. The first Indian Embassy in Switzerland was also officially opened in 1957. This treaty, the text of which appears below, has remained a “live” document ever since, sustained by visits, cultural activities and economic trade, which have maintained a positive image of each country on both sides. OPENING UP In the early 1990s, when India opened up to the international market, trade and contact between these two partners intensified enabling both to further extend their various areas of activity to a high level. Between 2002 and 2006, total bilateral trade increased by 125%... In the first 11 months of 2007, Swiss exports to India saw 30% growth, while those of India to Switzerland were 25% higher than those of the previous year. Switzerland is one of the top 10 foreign investors in India, with some 150 companies established there. Many other SMEs are represented by agents. All play a major role, particularly in the field of biotechnology, textile machinery and rail. The Swiss Business Hub offers its services to SMEs wanting to get into the Indian market from its offices in Mumbai and New Delhi. Today, more and more Indian companies wanting to conquer the world choose to set up in Switzerland to cover the European market. The Swiss Ambassador, Dominique Dreyer, reflects in our magazine on the importance of trade between India and the EFTA countries (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland). So the best possible conditions have been put in place in order to further deepen and develop relations between the two countries, notably bilateral agreements on Double Taxation Avoidance, Promotion and Protection of Investments, and an MOU on intellectual property rights. Swiss Label India One of the many projects initiated by both sides, the Rolex Awards for Enterprise merit special mention. These awards which “aim to encourage a spirit of enterprise in visionary men and women around the globe by providing the financial support and recognition they need to implement innovative, working projects that advance human knowledge and well-being” have been won by Indians on three occasions. The first, Captain Gopinath, received the prize in 1996 for his project on ecological silk farming. He was followed by film director Shekhar Dattari who was awarded it in 2004 for using his camera to bring attention to the fate of India’s forests and natural heritage. Two years later, Chandra Shroff was chosen for her efforts to revive the dying craft of embroidery. His organisation has enabled many women, young and old, to earn an income and regain genuine dignity. She has also made this age-old traditional art of the Gujarat Kutch region more widely known. MUTUAL ATTRACTION AND RESPECT OF CULTURES Fortunately, these steadily growing economic exchanges are coupled with strong cultural relations. The Swiss Art Council, for example, supports a number of Indian artists who work or film in Switzerland. Music features prominently, with concerts in all genres. One of the most recent music events was the tour by the Galatea String Quartet, which throughout February celebrated the anniversary of the treaty of friendship, with six concerts in Calcutta, Bangalore, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Goa and Varanasi. The Quartet enriched its repertoire of classical chamber music with the songs of Rabindranath Tagore. The Indian government celebrated the treaty of friendship between the two countries by presenting a statue of Mahatma Gandhi to the city of Geneva. The unveiling of this statue in Ariana park was a ceremonial occasion. Mr. Patrice Mugny, president of the city, Mr. Pierre Combernous, director of policy department II for Asia, together with Mr. Amirava Tripathi, Indian Ambassador in Switzerland, spoke about the great man’s work and life, devoted to peace, harmony and friendship. Another spellbinding subject on both sides is the production of Bollywood films, of which several directors have chosen Switzerland as the setting for their stories. People are not always aware that even in the mid nineteen sixties, the director Rajkapoor shot two films in Switzerland. There followed a large number of films whose success owes much to Switzerland’s snowcovered peaks and magnificent scenery. Since 2001 a succession of “Swiss Filmfare Awards” has crowned the most outstanding works produced by the Indian film industry. TOWARDS A WAY OF ERADICATING POVERTY IN THE FUTURE The other side of this glittering coin is the poverty on the sub-continent, despite its being an economic and nuclear power. There is still strong discrimination against minorities, especially against the Untouchables and against women. Also to be deplored are the very low number of jobs created and the very poor quality of public services. 350 million Indians still live on less than a dollar a day. 47% of children suffer from malnutrition. This state of affairs has led Switzerland to cooperate with India’s development since 1961. Programmes to reduce poverty, assist rural development and various form of aid have been taken in hand by some 60 Swiss non-governmental organisations. Since 2006, the SDC has developed a new form of cooperation with India, the Partnership Program, the different priority areas of which will become fully operational in 2010. Swiss Label India In other words, things are happening! The various contributors to this special issue of Swiss Label, to whom we are extremely grateful, have, each in their own way, covered some of the topics mentioned above. Officials or advertisers, all have shown their enthusiasm for the experience of an unprecedented situation - the unstoppable rise of India. BILATERAL AGREEMENTS BETWEEN INDIA AND SWITZERLAND SINCE 1948 BILATERAL AGREEMENTS • The Treaty of Friendship and Establishment of 14th August 1948, which came into force on 5th May 1948 (AS 1949, I 431/RO 1949, I, 431). • Indo Swiss Agreement on Technical and Scientific Co-operation signed on 27th September 1966. • The Exchange of Letters on 20th February 1989 between Switzerland and India concerning assistance in criminal matters, which came into force on 20th February 1989 (AS 1989, 777/ RO 1998, 777). • The Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation between the Swiss Confederation and the Republic of India with respect to income taxes, which came into force on 29th December 1994 (AS 1995, 845/RO 1995, 845). • The Agreement on Indo-Swiss Collaboration in Biotechnology for 5 years was signed on 13th September 1999. • The Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments between the Swiss Confederation and the Republic of India, which came into force on 16 February 2000. • Indo-Swiss Agreement relating to Co-operation in Air Services signed on 2nd May 2001. • The Agreement on Co-operation in the fields of Science and Technology between the Swiss Federal Council and the Government of the Republic of India signed on 10th November 2003. • The Grant Agreement between the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and the International Competence Center for Organic Agriculture in India signed on 3rd February 2005 • A Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India and the Federal Department of Economic Affairs of Switzerland on intellectual property signed on 7th August 2007. FRIENDSHI TREATY BETWEEN INDIA AND SWITZERLAND His Majesty The King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas for and on behalf of the Dominion of India and the Swiss Federal Council being desirous of consolidating the bonds of peace and friendship, which have ever existed between the two States and of developing peaceful and friendly relations between them, have resolved to conclude this Treaty and have, for that purpose, appointed as their Plenipotentiaries: His Majesty The King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, on behalf of the Dominion of India, The Honourable Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations in the Government of India and the Swiss Federal Council, Monsieur Armin Daeniker, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 7 Plenipotentiary of Switzerland in India, who, having communicated to each other their respective full powers and found them good and in due form, have agreed and signed the following articles: ARTICLE I There shall be perpetual peace and unalterable friendship between the Dominion of India and Switzerland. ARTICLE II Each of the contracting parties shall be able to appoint diplomatic representatives, Consuls General, Consuls, Vice Consuls and Consular Agents, who shall reside in towns, ports and other places in each other’s territory where the corresponding representatives of other countries reside or in such other places, as may be agreed to. Consuls General, Consuls, Vice Consuls and Consular Agents shall be provided with exequaturs or other valid authorisations of their appointment. Such exequatur or authorisation is liable to be withdrawn by the country which issued it if considered necessary. The reasons for the withdrawal shall be indicated wherever possible. The persons mentioned above shall enjoy on a reciprocal basis all the rights, privileges, exemptions and immunities that are accorded to persons of corresponding status of any other State. ARTICLE III The nationals of either of the contracting parties shall have in the territory of the other party, subject to the laws and rules in force in that territory, the right of establishing themselves and of residence, of going from and coming to and of moving freely within that territory. 8 ARTICLE IV The nationals of each of the contracting parties residing in the territory of the other party shall be treated in all respects that concern the exercise of their trades and professions and the carrying on and development of their commercial or industrial enterprises and their lawful traffic and trade on a footing of equality with the nationals of the “most-favoured foreign nation” provided they conform to the laws and rules in force. They shall not be liable to any charge impost or tax of whatever nature other or greater than that which is demanded from the nationals of the “most-favoured foreign nations”. ARTICLE V In no case shall either of the parties demand for its own nationals more extensive rights than it grants to persons of the other party similarly engaged in a trade or a profession or in the development ol any commercial or industrial enterprise or lawful traffic and trade. Article VI The contracting parties undertake to extend to the nationals and goods of each other for everything concerning commercial travellers and the import, export and transit of goods, treatment on the same basis as that given to the “mostfavoured foreign nation.” The privileges which are at present extended or may be extended in future for facilitating the frontier traffic to neighbouring countries, as also such privileges as might arise from a Custom Union already in existence or to be concluded in future by either of the contracting parties are excluded. ARTICLE VII The contracting parties will, as soon as possible, enter into negotiations for the conclusion of a more comprehensive Treaty or Treaties of Establishment and Commerce which will inter alia cover the matters referred to in Articles III, IV, V and VI. Subject to the terms of such Treaty or Treaties, this Treaty within respect to Articles III, IV, V and VI shall remain in force for a period of six months after notification by either party to the other of its intention to terminate the operation of those articles. ARTICLE VIII Any disputes arising out of the interpretation or application of this Treaty or one or more of its articles shall be settled in the first instance, by negotiations, and, if no settlement is reached within a period of six months from the commencement of negotiations, by arbitration in such manner as may hereafter be determined by a general or special agreement between the contracting parties. ARTICLE IX The present Treaty shall be ratified and shall come into effect on the date of the exchange of ratifications which shall take place as soon as possible in Berne. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Treaty in the English and French languages and have affixed thereto their seals. DONE in duplicate in New Delhi the fourteenth day of August in the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight. Signed by JAWAHARLAL NEHRU Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations in the Government of India on behalf of His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas. In the presence of P.A. MENON. Signed by ARMIN DAENIKER Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Switzerland in India on behalf of the Swiss Federal Council. In the presence of PIERRE HENRI AUBARET [SCEAU]. FINAL PROTOCOL On proceeding to sign the Treaty of Friendship and Establishment between His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, on behalf of the Dominion of India, and the Swiss Confederation, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries have made the following reservations and declarations which shall form an integral part of the Treaty: For the purpose of this Treaty, the term «nationals of India» includes the subjects of the Indian States which have acceded or may in future accede to the Dominion of India. The provisions of this Treaty which secure in the Dominion of India «most-favoured foreign nation» treatment to Swiss nationals and goods shall not apply to any special favours or preferences which the Dominion of India accords or may hereafter accord to the nationals or goods of the Republic of Burma or of the Kingdom of Nepal. The «most-favoured foreign nation» treatment under article VI shall not be deemed to be contravened by the import and export control necessitated by considerations of foreign exchange or other emergent considerations. The present Protocol shall be considered as approved and sanctioned by the contracting parties without any other special ratification by the sole fact of the exchange of the ratifications of the Treaty to which it appertains. It has been drawn up in duplicate at New Delhi on the fourteenth day of August one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight. JAWAHARLAL NEHRU A. DAENIKER Swiss Label India Swiss Embassy in India «To see this great country blossom and progressing is a fascinating experience» Dominique Dreyer, Ambassador © DR In the course of his thirty years in diplomacy Dominique Dreyer has spent most of his career in Asia. After an intensive Chinese language course in England in 1973, he joined the Swiss Embassy in Beijing in 1974. Four years in the Chinese capital enabled him to improve his knowledge of the country’s language and culture. There followed an «interlude» at the Ministry in Berne from 1978 to 1984 before a second four year stay in Beijing. From 1988 to 1992 Dominique Dreyer was posted to Tokyo, where he set about learning Japanese. His next posting, Paris, gave him the opportunity to establish even closer links with Asia, for he met and married his Japanese wife in the French capital. Once more sent to China as the Embassy’s deputy chief of Mission in 1995, he was made ambassador in 1999, holding this post until 2004, when Dominique Dreyer was appointed to head the Embassy in India. W hile speaking the local language is an advantage in China, here almost everyone speaks or understands English. In the course of my long postings in Beijing, I have been able to assess the changes that have taken place which provide a better understanding of present day China. Similarly, I consider it a privilege to be a witness to India’s rapid progress. PROGRESS IN THE SERVICE OF QUALITY Although India and China each has its own remarkable culture, it is difficult to compare these two worlds. India is a melting pot of very different cultures, religions, languages and ethnic groups, which give it that diversity and variety that fascinate us so much. China is much more homogeneous, if not uniform. Just compare crowds in China with the colourful kaleidoscope of Indian crowds. The Indian middle class undoubtedly lives better than the Chinese middle class, even though things are changing here too and make any comparison difficult. Over the last three years I have travelled a great deal all over the country. Progress is visible, but is still unevenly distributed. India is in the process of developing its infrastructure which is still very inadequate. But I have been able to observe, in particular, that a city like Calcutta, which abroad still has the image of a poor and under-developed city, has also embarked on the road to modernisation in order to recover its former prosperity. India today enjoys an increasingly favourable image in our country’s business world. The Embassy’s visa section had already been enlarged under my predecessor to cope with the growth of trade between our two countries, which is increasing by 20 to 30% a year. Our day-to-day work in the economic field is important. Numerous Swiss and Indian delegations come and go, especially in recent years as businessmen have become aware of the potential of this market. Similarly, Switzerland is one of the most popular destinations for Indians in Europe, a trend which has strengthened since Bollywood producers have set their films in Swiss landscapes. Tourists are more and more from the middle class whose purchasing power has increased significantly. Unlike China, which has based its economic strategy on being open to foreign investment and developing its export industry, India has prioritised development of the domestic market. Its international trade has grown more slowly. With the improvement in their standard of living, Indian consumers are more sensitive to quality and Indian industries are also aware of the need to improve their products in the face of foreign competition. In order to update their industries and increase output, Indian manufacturers have an increasing need for foreign technology and products. Swiss Label India This explains the great increase in Swiss exports to India in recent years, especially in the machine tool and textile machinery sectors. IN BOTH DIRECTIONS Swiss investment in India is rising strongly. Holcim, for example, has invested more than a billion dollars, a figure likely to multiply by three. The list is too long to mention all the companies, some of which, like Nestlé, have been established here for more than half a century. Some Indian firms are also starting to invest in our country. For example, an Indian industrialist has bought a Swiss watch dial factory. Several large companies are represented at home, such as Tata Consulting Services which specialises in electronic services. The “Location Switzerland” section, (a section of “SECO” from this year incorporated into the Swiss economic promotion body, “OSEC”) has the task of promoting foreign investments in Switzerland. In this context, we are emphasising to interested Indian companies the advantages Switzerland offers for their foreign investments, and in particular as the place to set up their European head offices. Every Swiss diplomat has always been aware of the importance of economic relations for our country which largely lives on its export industry. With India, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), of which Switzerland is the most important member, is going to negotiate an economic cooperation. This agreement should facilitate our trade with India by liberalising some tariffs and setting out better terms for investment. These negotiations should be concluded within this year. In addition, the Swiss Business Hub, set up by OSEC in 2001 at our Consulate General in Mumbai, is a mechanism whose objective is to facilitate access for small and medium sized enterprises to the Indian market. OSEC has a large database to enable small businesses to be more knowledgeable about this market and profit from the potential that it now offers to them. We are encouraging them to make use of these tools to find out more about the Indian market. A number of Swiss SMEs have developed high tech products which the rapidly expanding Indian economy needs. The transfer of production to India can offer advantages flowing not only from the low salary levels but also from the proximity of the market as well as the technical and scientific developments in India itself. India’s potential is, from this point of view, developing rapidly. It is up to Swiss companies to take advantage of it. Anyone wishing to operate on a world scale can no longer ignore India. As a diplomat as much as a person interested in Indian culture and history, I feel privileged to be witnessing the development of this great power in the making. 9 Indian Embassy in Switzerland “There is no ambassador happier than I am!” Amitava Tripathi, Ambassador © DR During the three years he spent in Brazil from 2002 to 2005, Amitava Tripathi realised that his country’s booming economy was taking it into the big league, totally different from his previous postings in his 36 year diplomatic career. In Paris, Washington, Karachi, Katmandu and Dhaka, India was usually seen as a land as culturally rich as it was economically poor, a huge melting pot of many and virtually insoluble problems. When he arrived in Berne in 2005, he saw that the interest in the sub-continent aroused in a Europe dazzled by its development grew a little more each day. M 10 y work as Ambassador has become far more gratifying ever since the opening up of the Indian economy in the early 1990s and its steady rise in the global pecking order in recent years (India presently occupies the fourth position after USA, China and Japan as having the largest GDP in purchasing power parity terms). India has been attracting significant amounts of foreign investment, as well as investment by foreign financial institutions in its booming stock markets, one of the best performing markets among the emerging countries in the world. Swiss merchandise trade with India has been growing at around 30% per annum over the past five years and crossed the US $ 3 billion mark in 2007. Trade in services is estimated at another US $ 200-250 million. If you add to this the fact that India buys almost US $ 3 billion worth of gold bullion from Switzerland every year, Swiss interest in Indiabecomes readily understandable. The Indian embassy provides a lot of information through its web site, as well as its electronic news letter (India News), which is updated every month. Our Marketing Officer responds to numerous enquiries from Swiss businesses wanting to import from India or export to India. And, of course, we work in close collaboration with SECO (the Swiss state secretariat for economic affairs), Osec and the Swiss India Chamber of Commerce. A great deal in common The healthy excitement about India helps to maintain the old relationship between our two countries both of which are committed to democracy, multi-culturalism, federalism and respect for human rights. From the moment we achieved independence in 1947, the Swiss recognized the importance and potential of India better than most other countries. Consequently, 2008 will be celebrated as the 60 th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship signed by the two countries on August 14, 1948. In some ways the celebrations have already started with the very successful visit of the Federal Councillor Mrs. Micheline Calmy Rey in her capacity as the President of the Swiss Confederation to India from November 4-7, 2007 and the unveiling of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Ariana Park, Geneva, very close to the UN building. During the current year, the celebrations of the Treaty would include numerous political, economic and cultural interactions. We expect the increased interest to make Indians more eager to come to Switzerland (already around 100,000 Indians have been coming to this beautiful land of lakes and mountains every year). The “Bollywood connection” with forty or so films shot in the Bernese Oberland, has also done a lot to promote tourism in this magnificent country! Indians are fascinated by the beauty of Swiss landscapes and the quality of Swiss products, especially chocolates and watches, but above all by the hospitable welcome extended to them. The visit of Mrs. Calmy Rey last year was utilized to have high level interaction with Indian political figures and business leaders, as well as the inspection of certain Swiss financed projects for improving the lives of common Indians. Since the President of the Swiss Confederation visits very few countries during his/her tenure, the fact that Mrs. Micheline Calmy Rey chose India among the countries she visited in 2007 was a recognition of India’s importance to Switzerland. LOOKING TO THE FUTURE I am, of course, aware of the constraints and problems posed by the weakness of infrastructure of my country, but we can’t just have a magic wand! Today, with more resources and available technical know-how, we are in a position to do something to address the infrastructure deficit, but we need time to get the job done. Over the next five years, India plans to spend close to US $ 500 billion on infrastructure projects. While two-thirds of this will come from domestic resources, we would need one-third of the resources to come from foreign investment. This naturally offers a huge opportunity to Swiss companies. According to a report of the American investment bank, Goldman Sachs, in the next 20 years, India will be the third biggest economy in the world next only to China and the USA. The strengthening of the Indian currency, Rupee, in recent years is yet another indicator of the strengthening of the Indian economy. Only two years ago the US dollar was worth Rs. 48. Today, it is less than Rs. 40 and is expected to be worth around Rs. 30 over the next five years. As mentioned earlier, 2008 is significant as it marks the 60 th anniversary celebrations. The list of festivities in the two countries include high level visits at the ministerial, official and corporate levels. I am confident that the celebrations will help strengthen bilateral relations still further and I have no absolutely doubt that over the next 60 years our cooperation will reach new heights. Embassy of India Krichenfeldstrasse 28 CH-3005 Bern Tel.: +41 (0) 31 351 15 67 Fax: +41 (0) 31 351 15 57 E-mail: [email protected] Swiss Label India Swiss Embassy in India “Indian market offers great opportunities for Swiss companies” Daniel Freihofer, Economic Counsellor © DR His studies of International Relations in Geneva gave him a taste for travel. On graduating in 2000, Daniel Freihofer spent a year in South America including work experience in the area of public affairs with Roche in Argentina. When he joined the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), he became country officer in charge for bilateral economic relations with South-East Asia and India for 5 years in the Foreign Economic Affairs Directorate. Daniel Freihofer has been in post in Delhi since the beginning of 2007. I learned a great deal about India when I was working at SECO, but there is nothing more valuable than direct contact with the people in this huge and complex country, so different from the rest of Asia. India has always been a thousand worlds at once, and these contrasts are even more impressive since the country’s economicupswing. It is fascinating to be confronted with the past and the future which constantly exist alongside the present. This clash contrasts the large proportion of the population still living below the poverty line with the big national companies that are expanding successfully, buying up foreign companies and establishing a presence all across the world. While the growth in the number of super rich Indians, benefiting from the economic boom, is impressive, that of the middle classes is just as dramatic. It should be borne in mind that India only started to open up its economy at the beginning of the nineteen nineties considerably later than China - and reforms are being made in a democratic context - unlike China - which may sometimes slow down the process of liberalisation in different sectors. Ifthe country is finding a way to achieve an “inclusive growth”- the government’s overall objective - poverty will reduce considerably over the next generation or two. The aim is for all categories of the population to be able to benefit from the impressive growth of the economy, especially the agricultural sector in which still two-thirds of the working population earn their living but which accounts for only 1/5th of GDP. This situation is critical for the country’s development in view of the fact that one third of the Indian population is under 18 years of age. If the government wishes to benefit from this “demographic dividend” of the country’s youth, more jobs must be created in the productive sectors. INSIDE AND OUT My main task is broadly to help promote bilateral economic relations between our two countries and to defend Swiss economic interests in India. Frameworkconditions will continue to improve steadily and the current business and investment climate is very good regarding the positive prospects of the Indian economy. But doing business in India is still a very difficult job. This is particularly true for SMEs, whereas it’s easier for the multinationals to deal with the problems. It is here that the Embassy can play an important role as a door-opener to the authorities or in supporting our companies on a diplomatic level in case of problems. We try to ensure that they are not discriminated against their competitors. In addition, we are involved in improving the framework conditions for our companies through relevant agreements, likefor example,a free trade agreement between EFTA and India (current negotiations) or a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of Intellectual Property. A relatively recent phenomenon is that we are more and more receiving Indian firms with an interest to invest or to establish their European headquartersin Switzerland. The OSEC Swiss Business Hub based in Mumbai with a branch in Delhiis the main instrument to develop and strengthen business relations between Swiss or Liechtenstein based firms and companies in India. The SBH offers various services to help Swiss SMEs exporting their products, searching for distributors or partners for joint ventures, or conducting market studies. The Swiss Business Hub is complemented by Swiss Label India the Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce which emanating from the private sector, which also serves as an excellent platform for networking between Swiss and Indian businessmen. All the organisations active here in promotion of the Swiss-Indian economic ties work very closely together. NOTHING IS MORE VALUABLE THAN SEEING FOR ONESELF In a context that remains difficult, the Indian market offers huge opportunities for Swisscompanies, whether in the machinery sector or high tech industries like chemicals and pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, components for the automotiveindustry and the telecommunications and IT sector, and many others too. The services sector, particularlybanking and insurance, is becoming more and more interesting. The government is giving high priority to the development of the infrastructure, which creates also interesting business opportunities for Swiss companies. Currently, about 150 Swiss companies are actively present on the Indian market. The Embassy notes a growing interest in India in Swiss business circles and more and more Swiss entrepreneurs are visiting the country to see what is happening here. This is obviously cheering, but efforts are still too hesitant in view of the huge potential. So I am encouraging Swiss firms and business associations to visit India and see for themselves the great opportunities which cannot always be fully grasped by reading articles and documents. We will be happy to be their first point of contact and supporting them if requested. India is a priority country in Switzerland’s foreign economic strategy. High level contacts are becoming more frequent - our Minister of Economy, Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard, is expected here in the Spring 2008, accompanied by a large business delegation., Her Indian counterpart, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Kamal Nath, visited Switzerland in March 2007, on the occasion of the Osec International Business Forum, at which India was the focuscountry. The joint economic commission composed of officials and representatives of various industrial umbrella organisations, will henceforth meet once a year to discuss problems and of possibilities of closer cooperation. 30% annual growth in our bilateral trade volume accurately reflects the constantly increasing intensity in our economic relationship. Working in an Embassy, particularly in a country as fascinating and complex as India, is a privilege, but we must not shut ourselves away there. Having contacts with “Shining India” should not make us forget the extreme poverty of the people living in the slums next to it, which we hope to see gradually disappear. Daniel Freihofer Counsellor, Economic and Commercial Affairs Embassy of Switzerland Nyaya Marg, Chanakyapuri P.O. Box 392, New Delhi 110 021 India Tel.: 00 91 11 2687 8372 - Ext. 209 Fax: 00 91 11 2687 3093 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.eda.admin.ch / newdelhi 11 SECO “India is currently living through a very fascinating period in its long history” © DR Massimo Baggi, Head of Sector Asia/Oceania 12 Because he feared seeing his horizons limited, Massimo Baggi, a political economy graduate of the University of Zurich and a researcher, decided to take the diplomatic service competitive examination. After two year training period spent mainly in New York and London, in 1992 he then found himself at the Ministry of the Economy in charge of relations with the European Union, before being posted to Delhi as the head of the Embassy’s Economic Division from 1998 to 2003. Massimo Baggi then spent four years in Moscow, responsible for the Embassy’s Economic Affairs. Since his return in 2006, he has been at the Department of State for the Economy, in charge of relations with the countries of Asia and Oceania. The five years I spent in India were very enriching. How could one not be fascinated by its tragic yet impressive progress, similar to that experienced by China or Russia? But unlike China or Russia, India has had the privilege of evolving gently. Although it was tempted by the socialist experiment for a time, it managed to avoid it with pragmatism and intelligence. Under Yeltsin, Russia went through a kind of break with the past, while China is still communist. Between the two, India is a democratic country, born out of a popular movement which has greatly influenced its development. Its party political system works well and it is probably this which has ensured that its development has not led to the same extremes as elsewhere. Between 1998 and 2003. I was there, and followed with great interest the beginning of this awakening, which led to this incredible dynamism that has developed so rapidly. SMALL COUNTRIES, BIG AMBITIONS My role is a traditional one within a ministry that manages bilateral relations: we have to ensure that our enterprises find the optimum conditions for setting up in these markets, in the area of goods, services and investment. To give our enterprises the best possible access to full information, we have a series of standard instruments: investment protection agreements, agreements to prevent double taxation, free trade agreements, air transport agreements, and so on. At the multilateral level, the WTO’s instruments are progressing a little less quickly than we would like. Switzerland has a tiny domestic market. It is this lack of scope that has obliged companies to do business abroad. The need to broaden our horizons has, for decades, made our enterprises more proactive: so they are well equipped to deal with globalisation. Do we need to be reminded that Nestlé set up in India before Independence? This company is part of the country’s economic history, like other great names. But our challenge today is to support our SMEs in these difficult markets. This is an arduous, not to say risky, task, because our small firms are not used to going abroad, except to neighbouring countries. Some think they have taken a huge step by going to Poland! So going from there to Asia... To make it easier for them we have delegated the job of private sector support to the Office Suisse d’Expansion Commerciale (OSEC Business Network). The Swiss Business Hub (OSEC’s office abroad) is, with its networks, an enterprise capable of proceeding efficiently with this reception service, working with private sector criteria. These are small organisations compared to some of those set up by our neighbours, but despite these constraints, the early experiences have proved positive. After being extended to countries neighbouring that in which it was set up, the network is at present concentrating on the emerging countries. A NEW ATTITUDE Today a growing number of enterprises from the emerging countries are setting up abroad. It is up to us to get the message across, especially in India and China, so that more of their enterprises come to us. This is gradually happening: some Indian companies in the steel and IT sectors have already set up abroad. We hope very much that others will follow them. The question is knowing whether we are genuinely ready to receive foreign investment in the best possible conditions. Flexibility on our part is essential... So most companies that set out to invest abroad want its “expats” to take charge of running the company. I imagine that Indian company heads would quite naturally want to do the same if they come and set up in Switzerland. That assumes that we offer them adequate support structures on arrival, schools and investment approval for training. We would also have to get into the habit of working differently, for the Indians do not do business in the same way as we do. There are still a small presence in Switzerland, but they will gradually make us adapt. We are a long way from having been through it and seen it all before! Swiss employees who work for an Indian boss will undoubtedly have to conform to different working practices! Because they speak English, it will be easier for the Indians than for the Chinese or Russians, but the language factor isn’t enough either. They will have to find other advantages if they are to remain competitive. That is all that we are hoping for from them, thinking of course about the creation of jobs that will follow. The prospects are extremely exciting... Secrétariat d’Etat à l’Economie CH-3003 Bern Secteur Asie Tel: +41 (0) 31 322 23 02 - Fax: +41 (0) 31 322 23 02 Website: http://www.seco.admin.ch E-mail: [email protected] Swiss Label India Swiss Indian Chamber of Commerce “India is the place to be!” Michaël Enderle, Vice-President © DR Michaël Enderle became Chairman of Rieter in India in 2005, after 17 years spent in several other assignments within the company. Before moving to India with his family, he had already been dealing with Rieter’s activities in India since 1999, as head of commercial services and since 2004 as the head of Rieter’s international distribution platforms in the textile division worldwide,which the indian organisation was part of. Representing the Swiss Indian Chamber of Commerce has given him an active entrée into the Indian business world, which has seen some of the most spectacular growth anywhere in the world. T his is the first time I have lived abroad with my family. For a businessman like me, being part of this growing and challenging market is fascinating. At the same time, my family and I are discovering a magnificent culture. It’s a real piece of luck for us to live here. In becoming vice-president of the Chamber, I have an overview of the entire Swiss business activity here, not only in textiles but also in other industries. This definitely enriching function has given me the opportunity to meet delegations and to build contacts. My two activities are developing in parallel. Within my group, which has approx. 1,000 people in India (out of a total of 15,000 worldwide), my primary task is to increase production and enhance our sales and service activities at our manufacturing units in Pune (formerly Poona) and Coimbatore, in southern India. Rieter has been present in India since 1964. Proximity to the market was always a factor. The Swiss Indian Chamber’s task is to provide support and information to existing Swiss companies through our three locations in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, with the aim of becoming a strong facilitating force for the bilateral trade between India and Switzerland. It has taken some time, but now, with all the 300 members of the SICC, of which about 100 joined in India, we are in a stronger position in our dealings with the government authorities and associations. We want to be more than just a bilateral organisation, but aim rather to be a binational one, attracting Indian members to us which have a link or an interest in Switzerland. The festivities planned this year for the sixtieth anniversary of the Swiss Indian treaty of Friendship should encourage even more contacts with local business leaders wishing to broaden their relations with Switzerland. Of course we operate in a similar way as any other Chamber of Commerce, providing information and network to our members. Further I would like to stress the fact that we work in close coordination with the Swiss Business Hub as well, depending on the prevailing project... We belong to the private sector and are never, in any way, in competition with the public sector. We are totally complementary and above all, pragmatic. We would like to emphasize that it is well worth coming to India, being part of the market and involved in this great venture that is growing everyday. It takes time, there are lots of problems, but the future is here! Nothing is more exciting than feeling you are part of an entire country’s adventure. ABOUT RIETER Rieter is a Swiss industrial group operating in the textile, automobile and plastics industries. It has almost 15,000 employees across the world, 13 per cent of whom are in Switzerland. Rieter Textile Systems develops and manufactures machinery and integrated systems for processing fibres and plastics into yarn, unwoven and granulated materials. Rieter Automotive Systems, a partner of car manufacturers, develops and manufactures components, modules and general acoustic and thermal comfort systems for motor vehicles in protection based on fibres, plastics and metals. SWISS-INDIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Gessnerallee 28 CH-8021 Zurich E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Swiss Label India 13 Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce “We are working to make the very long-standing economic relations between our two countries permanent” © DR M. Franz Probst, Attorney-at-law, LL.M. Président 14 Franz Probst lived and went to school in India from 1965 to 1968 when Maschinenfabrik RieterAG sent his father to Coimbatore to establish a company for the manufacturing of spinning machinery together with an Indian partner. Franz Probst completed his law degree and took his bar exam in 1983 after studies at the Universities of Zurich and Berne where he also started his career as a lawyer. From 1984 to 1988, Franz Probst joined the Swiss Federal Intellectual Property Office. After receiving his LL.M. degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1989, Franz Probst worked for international law firms in California and Zurich. In addition to his work as corporate lawyer, Franz Probst became the first ombudsman of Winterthur in 1992 and held this office until 1996 when he founded his own law office, PROBST RECHTSANWÄLTE in Winterthur. In view of his longstanding experience working for Indian and Swiss companies, Franz Probst was elected President of the Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce in 2005. Could you give us some background on the history of Swiss-Indian economic relations? Switzerland had the honour of being the first country to sign a Friendship and Establishment Treaty with independent India sixty years ago. However, bilateral economic relations can be traced back to 1861 when the trading house Volkart Brothers established operations in Bombay and Winterthur. In the sixties, companies such as Nestlé, Novartis, Rieter and others led Swiss investments in India. In recent years, bilateral investment and trade took off. The Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce (SICC), founded in 1985, is experiencing accelerated private sector demand and growth due to increased interest among Swiss companies and entrepreneurs in India, and Indian companies and entrepreneurs in Switzerland. Just recently SICC established offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. How does Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce (SICC) serve the private sector? Over the past two years, the SICC has significantly developed its organization and network. We assume that the significant growth in our membership from 120 in 2005 to over 330 members in 2007 will continue. It is in part for this reason that the SICC has strengthened its organisation and network in India. Michael Enderle, Vice-President of the Chamber and Head of Rieter India, who is based in Delhi estimates that the Chamber’s membership in India will see healthy growth going forward. By becoming a full-fledged bi-national organisation, our chamber is in a better position to facilitate bilateral investment and trade. We have the added advantage that our members and board representatives are from leading private sector companies such as ABB, Rieter, Nestlé, Novartis, UBS, CS and Gherzi Engineering that have longstanding experience in India. We will increasingly seek exchanges with governmental authorities and bodies to relay the problems and concerns our members face when doing business in India. These are issues such as continuing investment restrictions in India in the energy, communications and retail sector or overly restrictive immigration practices in Switzerland. What are the constraints and potential of doing business in India? India offers significant business opportunities. Important studies, for example, conclude that in the next 25 years, the Indian middle class will grow to 500 million people. This middle class with its growing spending power offers huge market potential equivalent if not larger than that of the middle classes in the USA or Europe. To successfully tap the Indian market and make use of numerous other opportunities, which India offers such as a young, well educated, Englishspeaking work force, companies must learn to understand the Indian business environment and customs. For example, if a Swiss company operating in India raises the salary of one of its employees, it may well be faced by demands for a salary increase from its other employees. This could happen because in India, it is common for employees of foreign companies to discuss their salaries with each other. Fortunately, the existing constraints of doing business in and with India do not diminish the Swiss business’s rising interest in this market. A reliable Indian partner can be of immense help in tackling difficulties when doing business in the country. And yet, although the selection of a partner is perhaps the most decisive single aspect for companies that consider joining forces with a local partner, these are not always scrutinized thoroughly enough and with sufficient knowledge about India. The SICC’s network can provide valuable guidance with regards to partner selection. We are here to assist Swiss companies overcome the obstacles presented by doing business in India, to offer our experience and to caution - or encourage - where required. I am optimistic that with the chamber’s strengthened organization and its strong network, we are in an excellent position to contribute to the growing bilateral economic development between Switzerland and India-in the best interests of both countries. PROBST RECHTSANWÄLTE Attorneys at law - Marktgasse 1, CH-8401 Winterthur Tel.: +41 (0) 52 269 14 00 Fax: +41 (0) 52 269 14 01 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.probst-law.ch - www.probst-law.ch Swiss Label India OSEC Why does India interest Swiss small and medium sized enterprises? Mr. Christian Watts, Regional Director © DR of Osec in Dubaï for India, Middle East and Africa I ndia no longer lives in China’s shadow. For the last three or four years its position as a market of the future has been clearly established. First, India has a population younger than that of China with an average of 25 against 33 in the People’s Republic. Its labour force will be a major asset for the future. Moreover, the language of business is English, and Indian law is based on British law. Lastly, India has been governed by a democratic regime for more than sixty years. All these factors constitute positive arguments for our SMEs when considering long-term trading relations in India. It is well known that development and production costs are still low here, thanks to a very large pool of labour with specialist skills. Every year the country sends an exponential number of graduates out into the marketplace. The growth of the IT industry has been extraordinary, because information technologies here are relatively independent. Indeed, the government intervenes little in this sector, which has few regulations. The Indians’ considerable mathematical skills are a significant plus, particularly in IT. India is now establishing the foundations of a genuine biotechnology industry. A bio-industrial centre is under construction in the Hyderabad region. Other significant advances are being made in the motor, travel and telecommunications industries. The last of these has been particularly dynamic since the market was liberalised, and about five million cellphone (mobile phone) subscriptions a month are now being signed up. population group will be able to progress through the education and training programme set up by the government. Any entrepreneur wishing to set up in India should first ask what products and services will be genuinely competitive. Things should be considered case by case, and it is here that Osec can make an effective contribution, identifying the specialist areas and market sector of most interest. In my opinion, the greatest potential is in the energy production and transport sector. The electricity industry is being restructured and opened up and the country must bring its infrastructure in this area up to standard. Similarly, the construction of roads, ports, railways and airports is increasing rapidly. The Indian market has been buying Swiss machinery, particularly in the textile industry, but chemicals and pharmaceuticals are now very attractive sectors too. In fact, anything to do with medicine and health in general, areas in which the Swiss are strong, represent a considerable share of the market in India. The bulk of the IT sector is located in southern India, and the Bengalore region has been dubbed “Silicon Valley”. The State of Maharashtra, centre of the motor industry, seems particularly suitable for Swiss precision industries. Bear in mind that SEZ (Special Economic Zones) are increasing across the country and offer very attractive investment terms. Heads of companies can obtain further details of all these opportunities from the Osec offices in Mumbai and Delhi: However, the many high quality educational establishments are fairly closely accountable to the government, which pushes a great many students to complete their studies in the USA or the United Kingdom. This will add a significant mass of highly skilled managerial executives in the near future. The potential of workers in India is huge, with some 500 million people in work and 700 million of working age. More than half the population earns its income from the local economy. This large, clearly less qualified, Swiss Business Hub India 102 Maker Chambers IV 10th floor - 222, Jamnalal Bajaj Marg Nariman Point - Mumbai 400 021 / India Tel.: +91 22 2288 45 63 - Fax: +91 22 2285 65 66 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.osec.ch/sbhindia Swiss Label India Osec Stampfenbachstrasse 85 / PO Box 2407 CH-8021 Zurich Tel.: 08 44 811 812 Tel.:+41 (0) 44 365 51 51 - Fax: +41 (0) 44 365 52 21 E-mai: [email protected] - Website: http://www.osec.ch 15 C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E BUHLER (India) Pvt. Ltd. “A spectacular success, in line with the Progressing Indian Economy” Dipak Mane, Managing Director Before joining Buhler 16 years ago, Dipak Mane, a chemical engineer, already had considerable experience in other industries acquired over a period of ten or so years. With an Executive Management education from IMD Lausanne, he combined scientific knowledge with management and marketing expertise. Many chief executives dream of developing their business as Dipak Mane has done at the head of Buhler India! Between 1991 and 2000 turnover was at an average, 12 million Swiss francs. in 2007, it rose to over 60 million... HEAD SPINNING ® Buhler (India) 16 We are condemned to growth! If things continue at the same pace, in 8 or 10 years’ time we will be one of the biggest company in the group with 200 million Swiss francs! That’s head spinning! But since we are not the only ones to grow, good staff are becoming an increasingly rare breed. Baby industries like, knowledge, IT services, business process, outsourcing, are new and large: they don’t have the managerial expertise, so they take people from the older industries. Senior managers are highly sought after. A good manager working with us for 10 years knows that he could go anywhere else. We need to take on more people, but we also have to keep those we have. Our employees - average age, less than 35 - appreciate their working conditions. Our challenge is to continue growing our business, recruit people and train them, while remaining competitive, with salaries increasing by 12.5% a year. We are doing everything we can to achieve this - and we are getting there! OUTSOURCING O ver the last seven years our growth curve has kept pace with the country’s. Buhler India has responded to the pressing needs of the sub-continent by supplying machines for its four main businesses which represent 80% of its activities: rice milling, electronic colour sorting, flour milling and die casting. The other 20% are in brewing, chocolate, feed milling, etc. We know how to adapt our technology and logistics as needed. The seven Buhler factories across the world benefit from a rigorous structure and unassailable logistics. A PREDICTABLE SUCCESS From 1998 we anticipated the economic boom and geared ourselves up by modifying our proposals and services, to suit the market place. So we were ready when things started to move. We spread ourselves all over India with 10 offices across the country. There are 220 of us at our headquarters in Bangalore, 20 at our large office in Delhi and 8 in Mumbai. Our other branches run with two or three people, who are always in touch with the office and customers. In some areas response time (from first customer contact to our person at site) is as low as 6 hours, which is exceptional in India. We chose Bangalore because it was cheaper than Delhi or Mumbai and had the absolute best climate in India. For nine months of the year we have about max 27° by day and cool nights. Since we moved here the city has grown enormously. It is huge now, in size and business: the city exports about 8 billion US dollars worth of software. We work closely with the parent company which gives us a lot of support. Buhler looks at India as 2 platforms: the first is the Indian market, the second is to source services for the rest of the group. In addition to our business, we have 30 people with us who work for other affiliated companies. Outsourcing services from India into other countries is an extremely important part of our business. Indian engineers, well educated and culturally adaptable, can go anywhere. We have noticed over these last few years that they are greatly welcomed and highly rated as much in Europe, as in China and Japan. Despite the few problems I mentioned above and which make our work exciting, I can say that I am a happy manager who has good reasons to be optimistic about the future! Buhler (India) Pvt. Ltd. 13 D, KIADB Attibele Bangalore 562 107 INDIA Tel.: +91 (80) 22 89 00 00 - Fax: +91 (80) 22 89 00 01 Website: http://www.buhlergroup.com E-mail: [email protected] Swiss Label India C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E Baldor - The Sign of Quality B aldor Electric Company markets, designs and manufactures industrial electric motors, power transmission products, drives and generators. Baldor has appointed Daniel Berg as Managing Director of its newly combined Asia Pacific operations. Baldor acquired the Reliance electric motor and Dodge power transmission brands in February 2007, and the combined operation provides a powerful resource to support regional industrial development with a comprehensive product range in this automation segment. Daniel Berg assumes responsibility for one manufacturing facility and seven sales and support centres, in India, Singapore, Thailand, China, South Korea, Japan and Australia. He views the company’s energy efficient and special duty electric motors, and conveying systems, as core products for these markets. “During the last few years Baldor has grown rapidly in the Asia Pacific region, largely because of its focus on energy-saving motors which greatly speed return on investment. Our new combined operation with the Reliance and Dodge brands adds very large motors and a complete portfolio of power transmission technologies, allowing us to provide complete turnkey solutions”, says Daniel Berg. He views three of the company’s product lines as particularly attractive options for current Asia Pacific markets. One is an innovative power transmission solution that is purpose-designed for long conveying applications, such as those used in mining, cement plants, power plants and loading/unloading at ports. This 26.3.2008 product is based on Uhr a novel gearbox rz_ins_halbseitig_ls_brochure 10:21 Seite 1 called the Controlled Start Transmission, which is manufactured locally in Baldor’s Shanghai factory. The other two are energy efficient motors which provide outstanding efficiencies of up to 96% or more, and special-purpose motors that are optimised for applications including chemical processing and variable speed control. “Many large-scale Asia-Pacific industrial users are currently investing in higher levels of automation, and Baldor has both the technology and the local resources to configure and deliver state of the art solutions with the added benefit of a platform optimised for long-term, low-cost use”, adds Berg. Baldor now has 27 plants worldwide and over 8,000 employees, and become the leading vendor in a number of major segments, including the USA’s electric motor and power transmission markets. It is the second largest supplier of electric motors in the world.The company’s product portfolio spans industrial electric motors, drives, generators and motion control equipment, and power transmission equipment including mounted bearings, enclosed gearing, couplings, sheaves and pulleys. Baldor ASR AG Postfach 73 - Schutzenstrasse 59 Feuerthalen CH-8245 - Switzerland Tel.: +41 (0) 52 647 4700 - Fax: +41 (0) 52 659 2394 Website: http://www.baldor.ch - E-mail: [email protected] P ROBST ATTORNEYS AT L AW Fürspr. Franz Probst, LL.M. Dr. iur. Wilfried Heinzelmann Dr. iur. Christoph D. Studer, LL.M. lic. iur. Georg Weber lic. iur. Stefan Weber 1 Dr. iur. Philipp Ritz, LL.M. lic. iur. Caroline Nekukar Konsulenten: Raphael Häring 2 lic. rer. pol. Beat Walker 1 1 2 dipl. Steuerexperte, nicht im Anwaltsregister eingetragen dipl. Treuhandexperte, dipl. Steuerexperte, nicht im Anwaltsregister eingetragen A main focus of Probst Attorneys at Law is on Swiss cross border transactions. We provide services to Indian companies entering the Swiss/European markets or already present in the region, and we assist companies in setting up operations and doing business in India. For further information, please visit www.probst-law.ch Phone +41 52 269 14 00 Fax Swiss Label India +41 52 269 14 01 17 C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E Burckhardt Compression is one of the market leaders in the field of reciprocating compressor technology and the only manufacturer that offers a complete range of Laby ® (labyrinth piston), process gas, hyper and trunk piston compressors. These compressors are used in a wide range of applications in the chemical and petrochemical industry, in refineries, in air separation systems, CNG filling stations and for gas transport and storage. Burckhardt Compression products are used to compress, cool or liquefy gas, for example hydrocarbon or industrial gases. Its customers include multinational companies in the oil, gas, petrochemicals and chemicals industries. ® Burckhardt Compression ® Burckhardt Compression About Burckhardt Compression In addition to its thriving new installation business, a major driver of the company’s success is its global service network, which generates a substantial share of company revenues. This global network enables Burckhardt Compression to offer comprehensive customer support services, such as delivery of top-quality components, servicing of compressor valves, complete system overhauls, engineering services and the fulfillment of comprehensive maintenance contracts. Pune, an industrial city near Mumbai. We also have regional offices in Delhi, Kolkatta, Vadodara and Hyderabad thus offering proximity to the customers. We operate a service center for valves in Vadodara which is well received by our customers. ® Burckhardt Compression 18 What are the markets addressed from India? Rao: So far Indian operation catered to India and its neighboring countries like Bangladesh. We have started offering our products in other Asian countries, in the Middle East and in South America. Why did you choose to invest in India? Valentin Vogt: I believe in the potential of India as a market and as a sourcing base for engineering, components and for field service. India has a sixth of the World population and with a high GDP growth rate of nearly 9% a year, it has huge potential for petroleum products, petrochemicals and energy, all of which mean potential for our compressors. India is also recognized for its high quality technical manpower which can offer natural synergies with Swiss operation. Indian operation also supplies quality components for the range of compressors manufactured in Switzerland, which gives us operational savings. Indian engineers also work on specialized analysis and engineering of compressor systems for the projects in Switzerland over a VPN connection. Is the Indian business different from the global business? Rao: The Indian operation concentrates on Trunk Piston compressors used in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), bottling plants and special applications for high pressure air. It would soon be the center of competence for a certain range of process gas compressors. The Indian operation also develops own range of products for local requirements, entirely on their own. The compressor division of Sulzer India already had a team of competent engineers with proven abilities in sales, product design, engineering, manufacturing and field service. Acquisition of this division gave us a jump start. What has been your investment so far and what are your plans for future? Vogt: We have so far invested in excess of INR 420 Mio and have plans to invest another INR 210 Mio the coming 2 years. The Indian business is developing very well - our sales increased from nearly INR 260 Mio in 2004 to INR 800 Mio this year. We expect to cross the INR 1 Bio mark in the coming year. By all means, this is quite a growing business and we are committed to make necessary investments to keep the trajectory. How big is the set up in India? Rao Narasimha: We have 150 co-workers in Indian operation, which will shortly increase to 200. Our operation is located at 40 km from Burckhardt Compression (India) Pvt. Ltd. Gat No. 304, Village Kondhapuri Pune-Nagar Road, Taluka Shirur Dist. Pune 412 209 Tel.: +91 (0) 2137 270254 / 669400 Fax: +91 (0) 2137 270232 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.bc-india.com Web: www.burckhardtcompression.com Swiss Label India C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E Melting, Refining, Casting - Concast AG For over 50 years, Concast has served the worldwide steel industry by focusing almost obsessively on the process of solidifying steel through continuous casting. Concast has supplied more continuous casting plants than any one else in the industry. Today, Concast plants and equipment set the performance benchmarks for electric arc furnaces, secondary steelmaking units and continuous casters for rounds, blooms, beam-blanks and billets. Please be remembered that the first continuous casting plants for steel in the world were put on stream only few years earlier (mid-fifties). In the early 80-ties, another technological breakthrough happened with the first very large Concast continuous caster, which went on stream in Jamshedpur at TISCO (TATA IRON&STEEL Co.). This plant was a further milestone in the Indian steel making society and the successful commissioning of that plant paved the way for many other large plants of SAIL (Steel Authority of India) as for example for the modernisation of the SAIL Durgapur plant. ® CONCAST AG VISION C oncast is driven by a passion for the steelmaking process, whether scrap- or iron ore-based. “We concentrate exclusively on the processes and technologies of melting, refining and casting for customers in the long-product sector, a focus none of our competitors can claim”, says Jacques Zuber, CEO and President of Concast AG in Zurich/Switzerland. Today Concast remains the frontrunner for modern, high performance plants with latest installations for the Kalyani, Jindal group, SAIL and many other steel makers in India. The increase demand for steel worldwide but also on the Indian subcontinent has forced the Concast group to set up a new organisation in Pune with an office with more than fifty engineers for mechanical design, process and automation. This office serves the local steel making community but also supports the worldwide active organisation of Concast with state-of-the art design and technology. With this new setup the Concast group remains a leader for steelmaking equipment around the world. CONCAST: LEADER IN LONG-PRODUCT STEELMAKING Concast AG is a financially and legally independent member of the SMS group, a leading international group of plant builders with an annual turnover of around 3 billion Euro. The SMS group is engaged in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel, nonferrous metals and plastics industries, and press and forging plants for the automotive industry. Concast is the global center of competence for long products within the SMS group, supplying entire plants as well as individual electric arc furnaces, secondary metallurgy facilities and continuous casters. For long product rolling mills Concast collaborates with SMS Meer. CONCAST AND INDIA It is for granted, that Concast was one of the pioneering companies to bring modern steel technology onto the Indian subcontinent, too. It was already in the early 60-ties when Concast made its first steps into the Indian market. Back in 1961 the stone-laying ceremony for a first continuous casting plant at Canara Steel in Mangalore took place. Swiss Label India CONCAST AG Toedistrasse 9 CH-8027 Zurich - Switzerland Tel.: +41 (0) 1 204 6511 Fax: +41 (0) 1 202 8122 E-mail: [email protected] SMS Concast Engineering (India) Pvt. Ltd. Virmar, 975-Nana Peth Pudumjee Park Pune 411 002 - India Tel.: +91 20 2634 71 66 Fax: +91 20 2634 77 39 E-mail: [email protected] 19 C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E ® DHL DHL - Number One in Express and Logistics DHL is the global market leader in international express, overland transport and air freight. It is also the world’s number 1 in ocean freight and contract logistics. DHL offers a full range of customised solutions - from express document shipping to supply chain management. globe than any other competitor. In this respect our motto “More Performance” refers to the fact that we provide the same products and quality standards in all 220 DHL countries. With a nearly 12 % market share on Air and Ocean Services we today are by far the market leader in the Logistics industry. How strong are the ties to India, what rank does the Indian market have for DHL? The DHL group, and especially the former Danzas group, enjoyed a very long standing partnership with the Lemuir group in India. Both companies have formed this year DHL Logistics India whereby DHL is holding 76% and Lemuir 24% of the shares. The new Company enjoys the number 1 position in the Indian Forwarding environment and employs in 21 location throughout India about 300 Logistics experts. ® DHL 20 What are your further plans? Among the four biggest production markets in the world - being Russia, China, Brazil and India - the latter profits from the most stable political and economical situation. We therefore strongly believe in a favourable investment climate which will lead to a strong market growth. “W e transport shipments rapidly, safely and on time all over the world. The basis for this is our comprehensive network, combining air and ground transport for optimal delivery performance”, says Thomas Christ, CEO of DHL based in Basel. “On the one hand, this gives us worldwide reach, and on the other a strong local presence and unique understanding of local markets and customers”, he emphasizes. DHL Logistics Switzerland as well as our European DHL colleagues will hence strengthen our commercial ties with India in the coming months. GLOBAL REACH AND LOCAL KNOWLEDGE In the logistics area, globalisation is creating ever more complex supply chains. Again, DHL’s combination of global reach and local knowledge is a key competitive edge. “We offer a wide range of standardised services as well as tailor-made industry solutions”, says Thomas Christ. “This is the only way to deliver to the high standards that our global customers are demanding.” DHL is 100% owned by Deutsche Post World Net. DHL’s international network links more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. Around 285 000 employees are dedicated to providing fast and reliable services that exceed customers’ expectations in 120 000 destinations in all continents. Mr. Christ, your motto is “More Performance, More Services, More Possibilities”. Could you explain the vision behind the motto? In the last years the DHL group has acquired a considerable amount of companies around the world. Especially in the world of DHL Logistics, where we offer worldwide Airfreight, Oceanfreight and Supply Chain Solutions we today are in a position to offer more Services around the Dr. Thomas Christ - DHL Logistics (Switzerland) Ltd Global Forwarding St. Jakobs-Strasse 222 P.O. Box 2647 4002 Basel - CH-Switzerland Tel.: +41 (0) 61 315 96 33 Fax: +41 (0) 61 315 96 40 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.dhl.ch DHL Danzas Lemuir Pvt. Ltd 101/102, Prime Corporate Park, Sahar Road, Andheri (East) Mumbai - 400 059 - India Tel.:+91 (80) 22 6678 6868 Fax:+91 (80) 22 6678 6820 / 6886 / 6884 Website: http://www.dhl.co.in Swiss Label India C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E Gherzi Eastern Limited ® Gherzi Eastern Limited “Our customers benefit from end to end design, engineering and project management services” Pradip Dutt, President and CEO After an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, Pradip Dutt started his career in 1976 at Larsen & Toubro Limited, the largest engineering conglomerate in India for construction, chemicals, petrochemicals, oil & gas, power, railways, defence, and IT. In 2002 Pradip Dutt became Senior Vice President of Dodsal Limited, an Indian company specialising in engineering and construction in the oil & gas, nuclear power, and roads & highways sector. Subsequently, he worked in the U.A.E at Dodsal Pte. Ltd., Dubai of which he became the Country Manager for Qatar and North Africa. But after this time in the Gulf and many trips in the region, his desire to return to India led him to accept the offer from Gherzi in August 2007. For a man of the land that he has long been, Pradip Dutt enjoys the intellectual aspect of his duties. ® Gherzi Eastern Limited 21 G herzi Eastern Limited with its head office located in Mumbai was founded in 1960, as a public limited joint venture company between Gherzi AG of Zurich and the Indian conglomerate, the Wadia Group. Across the world, Gherzi encompasses the infrastructure sector (motorways, bridges and interchanges), environmental engineering and construction, as well as health, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food products and textiles. This visionary group has brought to India its experience not only in the field of textiles but has also undertaken rationalisation of other indusrial facilities and technologies existing in the country, while always remaining focused on design and consultancy. A year ago, Gherzi Eastern decided to add construction to its portfolio of businesses. Today, infrastructure and real estate development are booming in India. Enriched by its considerable experience and the expertise of its over 700 employees, located in offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai, Bangalore & Pune, and project sites spread across the country, the company has all the tools to succeed in this area, especially because customers want end-to-end design, engineering and project management services. That however will not prevent Gherzi from pursuing its traditional line of business of design and engineering for the textile industry, even though this sector, which was a major one in the sixties, now represents only 15% of its revenues. Construction represents 30%, added to which is the 25% related to infrastructure. The remaining 30% comes from engineering consultancy. Swiss Label India “In the course of my business schedule, I often travel between Calcutta, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and other cities across the country. My time is divided between studying reports on various projects, discussions with senior general managers about new prospects, negotiations for large & important projects, and meeting important clients. During late afternoons when I often devote time to think about new business opportunities for Gherzi: nowadays huge investments are made being in the Indian infrastructure and construction sectors. Nonetheless, Gherzi Eastern Ltd remains open to prospective foreign partners who wish to co-operate with us on new projects. Indeed, it seems to me important to ally ourselves with companies who possess expertise in disciplines in which Gherzi needs to enhance its skills. I am a great believer in synergies, which give rise to some great ideas. The future prospects give us good reasons to be very optimistic.” Raheja Point I, Wing ‘A’, Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Vakola, Santacruz (E) - MUMBAI - 400 055 Tel: +91 22 6702 1380 - Fax: +91 22 2667 3193 Email: [email protected] ® Endress+Hauser Instruments International AG C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E Endress+Hauser Instruments International AG, Reinach/BL “Nachhaltigkeit als zentraler Wert” Interview mit Jean-Gyl Capt, Geschäftsführer der Endress+Hauser Instruments International Endress+Hauser ist ein weltweit tätiger Anbieter von Automatisierungslösungen. Exzellente Produkte und zukunftsweisende Dienstleistungen unterstützen die Prozesse der Kunden durch ein Höchstmass an Qualität, Sicherheit und Effizienz. Jean-Gyl Capt, CEO von Endress+Hauser Instruments International AG, erläutert in unserem Interview die Endress+Hauser Firmenphilosophie sowie innovative Messtechniken und gibt Auskunft über die vielfältigen Endress+Hauser Aktivitäten auf dem indischen Subkontinent. Können Sie uns einige Produkt- und Lösungsbeispiele nennen, die Sie hierfür anbieten? Das ist nicht ganz einfach, denn ein richtig typisches Beispiel gibt es nicht, es ist vielmehr eine schier unendliche Vielfalt, die uns als Anfragen von unseren Kunden täglich erreicht. Ein recht bekanntes, weil sehr erfolgreiches Produkt ist sicherlich der “Liquiphant”, ein Füllstandgrenzschalter für Flüssigkeiten. Der Liquiphant sieht aus und arbeitet ähnlich wie eine Stimmgabel: Er vibriert auf einer bestimmten Frequenz. Wenn sich diese Frequenz ändert, weil eine Flüssigkeit die Gabel bedeckt, stellt dies der Liquiphant fest, worauf er schaltet und ein Signal ab gibt, mit welchem zum Beispiel eine Pumpe ausgeschaltet werden kann. So wird der Überlauf von Behältern einfach und sicher verhindert. ® Endress+Hauser Instruments International AG 22 Herr Capt, Endress+Hauser gilt als einer der international führenden Anbieter von Messgeräten und Automatisierungslösungen für die industrielle Verfahrenstechnik. In welchen Bereichen ist Endress+Hauser hauptsächlich tätig? Endress+Hauser verfolgt einen segmentierten Ansatz: Zum einen was unsere Angebotspalette angeht, aber auch im Hinblick auf die Struktur unserer Kunden. Traditionell kommen wir aus dem Bereich der Feldinstrumentierung; unsere Schwerpunkte bilden hier die industrielle Messtechnik für Durchfluss, Füllstand und Druck sowie die Wasseranalyse. Im Laufe der Zeit haben wir unsere Angebotspalette auf Wunsch unserer Kunden zunehmend erweitert und bieten heute neben den genannten Parametern auch Temperaturmesstechnik, Messwertschreiber und Data Logger an. Ergänzt wird diese Produktpalette um einen weltweiten Service sowie unser Lösungsgeschäft, also das Engineering kleinerer Produktionsanlagen sowie Anlagenkomponenten inklusive der Informationsaufbereitung für kommerzielle Datenverarbeitungssysteme wie beispielsweise SAP. E+H-Neubau im indischen Aurangabad. Präzision und Zuverlässigkeit sind im Messbereich unabdingbar. Wie gewährleistet Endress+Hauser weltweit Höchstqualität und dies auch bei Massenprodukten? Qualität in ihren unterschiedlichsten Facetten ist sicher ein weites Thema. Für uns ganz besonders auch deshalb, weil wir mit unseren Messgeräten Sicherheit, Zuverlässigkeit und langjährige Verfügbarkeit den Kunden zusichern. Aber wir können es dabei nicht mit der Produktqualität bewenden lassen. Qualität muss auch an allen anderen Stellen stimmen: Vom ersten Beratungsgespräch bis hin zur Rechnungsstellung und zum AfterSales-Service. Ein Beispiel für eine Automatisierungslösung sind unsere “Fluid Management Solutions”: Das ist ein Messsystem, welches an Übergabepunkten von Mineralöl-Produkten eingesetzt wird, also beispielsweise bei der Verladung dieser Produkte auf ein Schiff, einen Zug oder einen LKW. Diese Messsysteme werden aus einer Vielzahl von Komponenten zusammengestellt wie zum Beispiel Durchflussmesser, Ventile, automatische Probennehmer, Filter, Analysestationen, etc. Dem Kunden stehen hier Genauigkeitsklassen im eichpflichtigen oder nicht-eichpflichtigen Verkehr zur Verfügung. “Endress+Hauser=°C”: Blickt man auf die Endress+Hauser Produktlinien, so entsteht der Eindruck, dass die Temperaturmesstechnik eigentlich nie ausgereizt ist, wie zum Beispiel im Bereich der Dünnschichttechnologie. Teilen Sie diese Wahrnehmung und wie setzen Sie diesen Ansporn Tag für Tag um? Mit dem Ausreizen von Technologien verhält es sich wie mit der Innovation: Es muss dem Kunden einen nachhaltigen Nutzen bringen und im Idealfall einen Nutzen, den nur wir ihm bieten können. Dann ergibt es Sinn, Technologien auszureizen, sprich sie an ihre Grenzen weiter zu entwickeln. Und wofür steht der Endress+Hauser-Slogan “People for Process Automation”? Das ist mehr als nur ein Slogan für uns: Es ist ein Versprechen, das wir unseren Kunden geben, an dem jeder Mitarbeiter seine Arbeit ausrichtet. Wir wollen für unsere Kunden ausserordentlichen und nachhaltigen Nutzen schaffen! Und zwar mit unserer kompetenten, leistungsfähigen und leistungswilligen Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern. Aber Sie haben es richtig erkannt: In der Temperaturmesstechnik steckt nicht weniger technologisches Potenzial als in anderen Messprinzipien, obwohl über Jahre vielerorts behauptet wurde, dass ein Pt 100-Sensor nun mal einfach ein Pt 100 sei. Unsere Produktentwicklungen in der Temperaturmesstechnik der letzten Jahre sprechen eine andere Sprache. Zumal eine Temperaturmessstelle ja nicht nur aus dem Sensor besteht. Die Palette an Temperatur-Produkten bei Endress+Hauser ist heute so Swiss Label India C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E ® Endress+Hauser Instruments International AG Management und Asset Management. Dazu kommen umfangreiche Service-Dienstleistungen, also Feld-Service vor Ort. Unsere Kunden in Indien erhalten zusätzliche Dienstleistungen wie Geräte-Kalibrierung, Inbetriebnahmeunterstützung, und vieles mehr. Auch Engineering Dienstleistungen und das Management ganzer Automatisierungsprojekte erfolgen vor Ort in Mumbai oder den Branch Offices. Mehr als 50 Anwendungsberater und Servicemitarbeiter betreuen zusammen mit den Kolleginnen und Kollegen vom Innendienst die indischen Kunden. Um näher am Kunden zu sein haben wir neben dem Hauptsitz weitere zehn Niederlassungen über das ganze Land verteilt. Und neben dem persönlichen Verkauf steht unseren indischen Kunden E-direct zur Verfügung: Das ist ein Direktvertriebskanal, über den wir qualitativ hochwertige Standardmessgeräte zu sehr günstigen Staffelpreisen und mit sehr kurzen Lieferzeiten vertreiben. Innovative Feldinstrumentierung von Endress+Hauser durchgängig und optimal auf die jeweilige Anwendung abgestimmt wie noch nie. So decken wir alle relevanten Anwendungsfälle mit einem gut sortierten Produktwarenkorb ab. Sie sehen: Wenn wir erkennen, was der Markt und unsere Kunden brauchen, richten wir uns so drauf ein, dass wir heutige und kommende Anforderungen erfüllen können. Mit dem Programm “Strategie 2011+” setzt Endress+Hauser den bisherigen Entwicklungspfad fort. Welches sind die Kernpunkte dieser Strategie? Zunächst einmal: Es ist richtig - die “Strategie 2011+” ist die Fortschreibung unserer bisherigen Strategie. Wir haben da angepasst, wo wir in unseren Erwartungen über oder unter Ziel gelandet sind und Aspekte hinzugefügt, die bei der Formulierung der bisherigen Strategie noch nicht so deutlich erkennbar gewesen waren wie sie es heute sind. Inhaltlich steht über allem unser Ziel, für unsere Kunden nachhaltig überragenden Nutzen erzeugen zu wollen. Das ist unsere Daseinsberechtigung. Hierzu haben wir eine Reihe von Eckpfeilern, die uns bei der Erreichung dieses Ziel unterstützen: • Erstens braucht es ein Regelwerk, wie wir miteinander umgehen wollen; dieses haben wir in Vision, Mission, Credo, unseren Werten und unserer Kultur festgeschrieben. Im Zentrum unseres Tuns steht dabei der Mensch: Talentierte, loyale und gut ausgebildete Mitarbeiter stellen in der ganzen Welt unsere Kunden zufrieden. • Zweitens erzeugen wir ein hohes zusätzliches Wachstum und den entsprechenden Gewinn, durch die Ausweitung unserer Geschäftsfelder und die richtige Branchenausrichtung auf die Wachstumsindustrien, sowie durch Innovation und “Operational Excellence”. • Als dritter Punkt achten wir darauf, dass sich unsere Messgeräte nahtlos in die relevanten Systemarchitekturen integrieren lassen, und zwar mechanisch, elektrisch, elektronisch und informationstechnisch. • Viertens: Kontinuierliche Verbesserung, KVP oder Kaizen ist ein gelebter Teil unserer Firmenkultur. • Und fünftens: Unsere Gruppenfirmen vernetzen sich noch stärker, um die Synergie-Effekte für unsere Kunden zu optimieren. Mit seinen fast 8’000 Beschäftigten ist Endress+Hauser in Europa, den USA und natürlich auch in Asien vertreten. Auf dem indischen Subkontinent ist Endress+Hauser seit über 25 Jahren vor Ort. Welche Produkte und Dienstleistungen werden von Endress+Hauser (India) Pvt. Ltd. mit Sitz in Mumbai und den 10 Branch Offices angeboten? Stimmt, das ist schon mehr als ein Vierteljahrhundert. Endress+Hauser Indien vertreibt die gesamte Produktpalette der Gruppe: Prozessmessgeräte für Füllstand, Druck, Durchfluss, Temperatur, Wasseranalyse, sowie Automatisierungslösungen wie Tankfarm-Management, BestandsdatenSwiss Label India In Aurangabad steht darüber hinaus seit 2000 eine Produktionsstätte für Durchfluss-Messgeräte. Im November 2007 ist der Spatenstich für einen markanten Ausbau der Produktionskapazitäten erfolgt; der Neubau soll im Herbst des laufenden Jahres bezugsbereit sein. Welche Art von Verbesserungen streben Sie mit dem neuen Produktionswerk an? Es geht bei dem Neubau in Aurangabad für die Durchflussmesstechnik um die notwendige Kapazitätserweiterung der bestehenden Anlagen. Weil wir ein Schweizer Unternehmen sind und unsere Hauptproduktionsstandorte in Europa angesiedelt sind, haben wir in wichtigen Märkten und Regionen zusätzliche Kapazitäten geschaffen, um die kundenspezifischen Endmontagen und die Kalibrierungen und damit die Lieferung unserer Produkte zu beschleunigen. Endress+Hauser versteht auch den Ausbau in Indien als Teil einer nachhaltigen Wachstumsstrategie. Was bedeutet für Endress+Hauser Nachhaltigkeit gerade in einem Schwellenland wie Indien? Nachhaltigkeit ist einer unserer zentralen Werte. Nicht zuletzt weil wir mehr als 50 Jahre nach der Firmengründung immer noch im Privatbesitz der Familie Endress sind. Die Eigner-Familie prägt die Unternehmung kulturell sehr stark. Und wenn die Shareholder einen derart hohen Identifikationsgrad mit dem Unternehmen haben wie bei uns, ist das Geschäft konsequenterweise stark auf Nachhaltigkeit und Konsistenz ausgelegt. Das gilt für Endress+Hauser grundsätzlich. Und eben auch für unser Engagement in Indien! Endress+Hauser hat ein klares Bekenntnis zu Indien ausgesprochen. Mit unseren Vertriebsaktivitäten haben wir bereits vor mehr als 25 Jahren den ersten Schritt getan und seither unsere Präsenz kontinuierlich weiter verstärkt und ausgebaut... indem wir 1994 ein “Endress+Hauser Branch Office” gegründet haben und seit dem 1. April 2000 mit einer eigenen Vertriebsfirma vor Ort tätig sind. Ungefähr zur selben Zeit hat die Endress+Hauser Gruppe das erste Produktionswerk für Durchflussmessgeräte in Indien eröffnet. Diesen Weg werden wir in den nächsten Monaten und Jahren weiter gehen und sukzessive für alle physikalischen Messprinzipien Produktionsstätten hier installieren. Damit werden wir in Zukunft noch mehr als bisher Arbeitsplätze in Indien schaffen. Endress+Hauser Instruments International AG Kaegenstrasse 2 - CH-4153 Reinach Tel.: +41 (61) 715 81 00 - Fax: +41 (61) 715 28 88 Email: [email protected] - http://www.endress.com 23 C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E NESTLÉ INDIA Martial Rolland, Chairman and Managing Director of Nestlé India ® NESTLÉ INDIA In twenty years with Nestlé, Martial Rolland has always lived outside Europe: in India from 1988 to 1992, Thailand from 1992 to 1995, Pakistan from 1995 to 2000 and in Turkey and Central Asia from 2000 to 2004. In every country he has worked in various functions of sales and marketing, and prior to his move to Delhi to take charge of the South Asia Region he was in charge of Nestlé in Turkey and Central Asia. With an Asian wife and children born in Pakistan, he has strong ties to Asia. Since his return to India end of 2004 Martial Rolland has been pleased to witness the country’s economic acceleration. A s someone who knew the changeless India of before economic liberalisation, Mr. Rolland was struck to see his office near Delhi surrounded by buildings in an area virtually empty before. The Indians have now much more confidence in themselves. Not only do they no longer dream of leaving for the West, but many are returning to create success stories. Also, the way Westerners see India has changed, attracted by the country’s potential. CREATING SHARED VALUE AND A WIN-WIN RELATIONSHIP: Meanwhile, Nestlé India is continuing its work and reaping some excellent rewards in this region with 25% growth and a turnover of one billion Swiss Francs. With a presence here since 1912, Nestlé established a network for collecting milk at its first factory built in the state of Punjab in 1961. The very first day of collection of milk in 1961 totalled 511 kg. Today close to 100,000 farmers deliver over a million kg of milk every day. Nestlé’s commitment to collect milk from farmers has been sustained over the last 46 years. Even during the period of social unrest in the region in the 1980s, Nestlé continued to collect milk on a daily basis. Impressed by this steadfastness, the farmers placed their trust in Nestlé, which worked for the good of the community. Veterinary and agricultural services are provided, especially for the improvement of the herd, the quality of feed and raising productivity and quality of milk. Considering the major role played by the women in the dairy development, a Village Women Dairy Development Program for training them in good dairying practices has to date benefited over 30,000 women. Besides this, in 1999 Nestlé finalised a clean drinking water programme: over 95 deep bore wells have been constructed at village schools near Nestlé factories from which over 33,000 students today have access to clean drinking water. As a signatory to the UN Global Compact, Nestlé is helping build clean drinking water facilities. Through its Water Education program, Nestlé further educates students in village schools about water conservation and hygiene measures. Over 13,000 students already benefit from this program. ® NESTLÉ INDIA 24 effective supply chain management. This is just one example amongst many which shows the country’s huge infrastructure development needs. A lorry still takes 17 days to go from Calcutta to Mumbai. Mr. Rolland says that it took him recently 7 hours to do 200 km in a rural area in central India. Hence, moving forward, a lot needs to be done to reduce the disparities that exist between urban and rural... The advantage of this approach is that it is a win-win, hence sustainable. MOVING MORE QUICKLY TO DEVELOPMENT: Not only dairy products, but coffee, tea, chocolate as well as culinary products primarily for the local market are now produced at 7 Nestlé factories in India. While India is the world’s biggest milk producer, with annual production of about 100 million tonnes, the unused surplus of fresh milk is not always available for processing for lack of Nestlé House Jacaranda Marg, ‘M’ Block, DLF City Phase II, Gurgaon 122002 (Haryana), India Tél. : +91 (80) 124 238 9300 Fax : +91 (80) 124 238 9411 Website: http://www.nestle.in Swiss Label India C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E PricewaterhouseCoopers “For a year now, there’s been a sense of a real Swiss interest in India” ® PricewaterhouseCoopers Monica Cohen Dumani, Partner Tax Department India Business Group Leader (India Desk) I t’s probably the Asian part of her - Monica Cohen-Dumani’s mother is Thai - that made her choose India when PwC identified the various growth markets. This has long given this tax specialist a fascination with the culture and history of this great country. I remember that when this desk was set up, three years ago and so am well aware of the incredible leap that our organisation has made in growing our firm in India, now with offices in eight cities all over India, more than 4,000 employees and still growing very fast. We’re constantly recruiting! Young people going abroad to study are tending more to come back to work in the country. They are often more committed “to help build the country’s future” than to high salaries. Many young graduates who have studied in India are excellent. At PwC, people are our most valuable asset and our main concern is to offer a quality of service beyond reproach. start-ups in India are often tough. Some types of businesses are limited, if not prohibited, for foreign investors. In retail for instance, foreign direct investment is only allowed up to 51% of shares provided that it is a single brand retail business. A joint venture with a local business partner often gives better access to the market or is necessary for regulatory reasons. On the other hand, the foreign company having made all the investment to develop the brand and technology and also bearing a substantial portion of the cost of investment for its business in India, will think about what the Indian partner will contribute and how to split the profits to reflect this de facto situation, in particular in situations where the foreign direct investment is limited like in the single brand retail business. The question is also whether a company wants to sell in the Indian market or simply use India as a platform for its production or to provide services to the rest of the group. Once the business model, strategy and regulatory or other constraints have been identified with our help, we can propose a certain number of appropriate methods to route and organise the investment from a legal and tax point of view, taking into account the administrative aspects of maintaining the investment and the costs associated with it, including any distribution of dividends or future sale, etc. Our teams in Switzerland and India will be able to support an enterprise at every stage, from feasibility study and strategy, working out a business plan, finding a joint venture partner or a target for an acquisition. We also can propose a structure together with aspects of transfer pricing which cover matters like royalty payments, know-how fees, etc up to finally dealing with implementation including obtaining authorisations and compliance services. In December with Seco I presented Switzerland to Indian investors in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Puna. Until now the Indians have established the closest business links with Holland, Germany and, of course, the UK. You may say they discovered Switzerland as a “business place” only recently. We are also working closely with our India Desks in Europe, with which we share experiences and skills. We are very proud of this network and the good relations we maintain between PwC colleagues. It explains our success! A MAZE OF CONSTRAINTS AND SOLUTIONS All kinds of businesses are seeking to invest in India: retail, industrial, textile, service and real estate and so on. Big investments are and still have to be made in the infrastructure necessary for the development of the country and its economy. Property prices are going through the roof and real estate in Mumbai is amongst the most expensive in the world. When a client tells me he wants to “do something” in India, I first try to understand what he aims at and what he needs; we can do a feasibility study of the project from a strategic perspective and help with drawing up of a business plan. The regulations in India are strict and business Swiss Label India PricewaterhouseCoopers SA Avenue Giuseppe Motta 50, 1211 Genève 2 Tel: +41 58 792 97 18 Fax:+41 58 792 96 43 www.pwc.ch/india [email protected] 25 C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E Remei AG, Rotkreuz “Produktion auf gesunder Grundlage” ® Remei AG Unter dem Qualitätssiegel bioRe ® bietet Remei AG Garne und Bekleidung aus Biobaumwolle an. Remei AG bringt Sozialverträglichkeit und Nachhaltigkeit als Zukunftsimpuls in das Wirtschaftsdenken ein. In unserem Interview stellt Geschäftsführer Patrick Hohmann das durch die Vereinten Nationen UN ausgezeichnete Unternehmen und sein Baumwollprojekt in Indien näher vor. Herr Hohmann, Remei AG ist seit über 25 Jahren bestrebt, die Wertschöpfungskette von Baumwollproduzenten, Spinnereien, Strickereien, Färbereien und Nähereien auf eine nachhaltige Kette umzustellen. Nach welchen Grundsätzen verfahren Sie und welche Ziele verfolgen Sie dabei? Die Herstellung von bioRe® Produkten erfüllt folgende 5 Kriterien: BIOANBAU: Die Bodenfruchtbarkeit bleibt durch den Fruchtfolgewechsel erhalten, während die Gesundheit der Bauern durch die Herstellung ohne Pestizide und mineralische Dünger geschützt wird. Die Landwirte erzielen dabei gute Erträge, die mit dem konventionellen Anbau vergleichbar sind. Dadurch steigt das Einkommen der Bauern und sie können aus dem Kreislauf der Verschuldung gelangen. 26 FAIRNESS: bioRe® Produkte entstehen unter menschenwürdigen Produktionsbedingungen für Bauern und Textilarbeiter. Im Bereich der Landwirtschaft erbringen wir Dienstleistungen wie Schulung, Abnahmegarantien, Bio-Prämien über dem konventionellen Marktpreis der Baumwolle, Management und Kapitalaufbau sowie Unterstützung von Einzelund Gemeinschaftsprojekten. Im Bereich der Industrie gewährleisten wir, dass keine Kinder arbeiten und die Beschäftigten über geregelte Arbeitszeiten und Minimallöhne verfügen. ÖKOLOGIE IN DER PRODUKTION VON BEKLEIDUNG: Unsere Baumwollprodukte werden ohne Chlor gebleicht und das Färben erfolgt ohne toxische Schwermetalle. Auch wird bei der Veredelung kein Formaldehyd eingesetzt und sämtliche Abwasser werden in Kläranlagen gereinigt. Diese Massnahmen schützen die Gesundheit der Textilarbeiter und die Haut der Konsumenten. QUALITÄT: bioRe Garne und Bekleidung werden auf jeder Prozessstufe, vom Garn bis zur Konfektion, nach unseren bioRe® Qualitätsanforderungen überprüft. ® TRANSPARENZ: Die bioRe® textile Kette wird auf jeder Produktionsstufe zertifiziert. Der Begriff der “Nachhaltigkeit” erfährt in der heutigen Zeit schon beinahe eine inflationäre Verwendung. Was bedeutet für Sie Nachhaltigkeit insbesondere bei der Produktion von Baumwolle und deren Weiterverarbeitung? Der Begriff der Nachhaltigkeit erfährt in der heutigen Zeit viele Nuancen. Unsere Hauptausrichtung gilt der nachhaltigen Verbesserung der Situation. Für uns bedeutet dass die partnerschaftliche Zusammenarbeit mit allen Lieferanten und Partnern sowie die Reduktion aller nicht notwendiger Verschmutzungen und Zerstörungen. Nachhaltigkeit heisst für uns z.B.: - Nachhaltige Landwirtschaft: darunter verstehen wir den biologischen Anbau. - Nachhaltige Färberei: darunter verstehen wir, dass die Stoffe, die wir einsetzen, weder für die Umwelt noch für die Menschen giftig sind. - Nachhaltige Partnerschaften: damit honorieren wir unsere Partner durch eine langfristige Geschäftstätigkeit, für die Entwicklung, die sie mit uns angehen. - Nachhaltiges soziales Umfeld: wir legen uns auf das SA 8000 System fest, worin die sozialen Bewegungen einer Unternehmung nachhaltig gepflegt werden. Unter dem Qualitätssiegel bioRe ® bietet Remei AG die Produktion von BioBaumwolle in einer zukunftsgerechten Prozesskette. Eines dieser bioRe ®Projekte ist Ihr Baumwollprojekt in Indien. Können Sie uns dieses etwas näher vorstellen? Das Biobaumwollprojekt bioRe® India wurde 1991 gegründet. Es ist der Anfang der integrierten bioRe® Textilkette, welche Bauern, die textile Industrie und den Handel partnerschaftlich verbindet. bioRe® India ist weltweit eines der grössten Projekte dieser Art. Ziel des Projektes ist die Lebensgrundlage von Kleinbauern über den biologischen Anbau von Baumwolle zu verbessern und die Bauern in die textile Kette einzubinden. Der biologische Anbau ermöglicht den Bauern, ihre landwirtschaftliche Produktion auf einer gesunden Grundlage aufzubauen, da keine Kredite für teure Agrochemikalien nötig sind, die Produktionskosten reduziert werden und ihre Erträge stabiler werden. Heute arbeiten wir mit ca. 8’000 Kleinbauern mit einer Landwirtschaftsfläche von ca. 30’000 acres. Und wie können Sie sicherstellen, dass beispielsweise in Indien auch Sublieferanten keine Kinder oder Zwangsarbeiter beschäftigen? Gerade in Indien ist die Zusammenarbeit mit Sublieferanten sehr schwierig. Dank unserem SA 8000 System sind wir in der Lage, die ganze Kette zu kontrollieren. Jeder Sublieferant muss die Konformität der SA 8000 Kriterien erfüllen. Wie vermitteln Sie den lokalen Baumwollproduzenten, dass sich für sie Nachhaltigkeit auch in Zeiten von Konkurrenzdruck und Gewinnmaximierung lohnt? Selbstverständlich unterliegen wir einem Konkurrenzdruck, aber wir vergleichen uns nicht mit dem konventionellen Markt. Wir laden unsere Bauern zur Zusammenarbeit ein und geben ihnen eine 5-Jahre-Abnahmegarantie unter der Bedingung, dass sie auch die ökologischen Kriterien Swiss Label India ® Remei AG C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E erfüllen. Für diese erhalten sie einen Mehrpreis. Ausserdem wird durch die Partnerschaft mit ihnen nochmals ein zusätzlicher Mehrpreis abgeführt, der dem Fairtrade ähnlich ist, aber mehr die individuelle Struktur als die Gemeinschaft fördert. Darüber hinaus unterstützen wir das kommunale Leben durch Entwicklungsprojekte wie z.B. Schulen, Mobile Klinik, Biogasanlagen, Baumpflanzungen und vieles mehr. Ihr Unternehmen ist im Jahre 2002 von den Vereinten Nationen (UN) ausgezeichnet worden. Für was wurden Sie geehrt und welcher Ansporn ergibt sich daraus für Remei AG? Remei AG und Coop erhielten den “Internationalen Umweltpreis für nachhaltige Entwicklungspartnerschaften”. Diese Auszeichnung wurde den beiden Unternehmen für die Entwicklung des Naturaline BioBaumwoll-Projektes in Indien und Tansania überreicht. Damit wurde die beispielhafte, engagierte Zusammenarbeit zwischen Remei AG und Coop gewürdigt, die vom Anbau, zur Produktion, über die Verarbeitung bis zum Handel nachhaltige Wirkung zeigt. Vor über 10 Jahren gründete Remei AG die bioRe ® Stiftung. Welche Zwecke und Ziele versuchen Sie damit zu verwirklichen? Die bioRe® Stiftung fördert die biologische und biodynamische Landwirtschaft im Baumwollanbau in Entwicklungsländern. Ausserdem fördert sie die Kapitalbildung vor Ort sowie den Aufbau von technischen und sozialen Infrastrukturen für die Gemeinschaft, insbesondere in den Bereichen Schulung und Ausbildung, Gesundheit und Ernährung. Swiss Label India Die Herstellung von Textilien nach nachhaltigen Kriterien ist das eine, deren Verkauf das andere. Wie reagieren die Verbraucher auf bioRe ®Produkte und muss Öko-Mode überhaupt nach Öko aussehen? Wir freuen uns, dass die Verbraucher unsere Produkte kaufen. Sie interessieren sich dafür und wir wollen unsere Produkte interessant gestalten. Es sind modernste Produkte, die wie aus einer Selbstverständlichkeit heraus Bio sind und sozial verträglich sowie ökologisch fortschrittlich hergestellt werden. Wir wollen, dass Bio und Nachhaltigkeit zukünftig eine Selbstverständlichkeit sind, und dass die Kunden über das gute Aussehen sowie die hohe Qualität unserer Produkte begeistert sind. Sie sollen unsere Produkte kaufen, weil sie die besten sind. Und sind die Verbraucher auch bereit, für bioRe ®-Produkte tiefer in die Tasche zu greifen? Ja, die Verbraucher sind bereit, mit einem vielleicht etwas höheren Preis unsere Anstrengungen zu honorieren. Remei AG Lettenstrasse 9 CH-6343 Rotkreuz Tel. :+41 (0) 41 798 32 32 Fax :+41 (0) 41 798 32 00 E-Mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.remei.ch 27 C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E Rieter’s growth strategy for India Rieter is a Swiss-based industrial group with activities in all regions of the world. It is a leading supplier of products and services for the textile and automotive industries. Rieter’s worldwide workforce totals approximately 15’500 employees, some 13% of whom are based in Switzerland. nised acoustics and thermal management partner, Rieter Automotive Systems is a leading supplier to the automotive industry worldwide. A GLOBAL PARTNER Innovative solutions in a total vehicle approach - from the engine compartment right through to the interior floor and the underfloor, the interior trim and the trunk - are Rieter’s contribution to making cars more comfortable, lighter and more fuel efficient. Rieter Automotive Systems has the capabilities, the network of know-how and the facilities to supply its customers with a complete acoustic package wherever they may be located. Present on all major car manufacturing and textile machinery markets, Rieter is close to its customers’ facilities whether they be long-established or newly developing industrial realities. On the move into the 2000s as a truly global company: the Rieter Group, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of textile machinery and automotive components. “Rieter aspires to achieve sustained growth in corporate value for the benefit of shareholders, customers and employees,” says CEO Hartmut Reuter. With this in mind, Rieter seeks to maintain continuous growth in sales and earnings in both divisions, primarily by maximizing in-house resources, and secondly also through cooperative ventures and acquisitions. 28 ® Rieter Holding AG Since it was established in 1795, Rieter has continuously adapted to new challenges and developed from a Swiss machine manufacturer into a T he group comprises two divisions: Rieter Textile Systems and Rieter Automotive Systems. Both divisions are world market leaders in their respective market segments. Rieter Textile Systems develops and produces machinery and integrated systems for converting natural and manmade fibers and their blends into yarns and nonwovens. “Rieter Textile Systems is the world’s leading supplier of products and know-how covering the entire spinning process and can therefore develop optimal solutions for customers,” says Hartmut Reuter, CEO of Rieter. Rieter Textile Systems supplies technologies for producing nonwovens, a segment with numerous applications ranging from the hygiene to the industrial and the medical sector making this still young segment correspondingly dynamic. ® Rieter Holding AG In partnership with automotive manufacturers, Rieter Automotive Systems develops and produces components, modules and integrated systems on the basis of fibers, plastics and metals in order to provide acoustic comfort and thermal insulation in motor vehicles. As a recogSwiss Label India C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E worldwide industrial group of companies. Rieter has been a driving force for industrial progress for 210 years: its products and solutions are the outcome of a traditionally high level of innovative momentum. Based on the skills of its personnel, Rieter creates products that are ideally tailored to its customers’ needs. As partner and supplier of the textile and the automotive industry, Rieter contributes to the success of its customers. Continuous further development is the motivation for its employees and the basis of its business success. “These principles - delight your customers, enjoy your work and fight for profits - also represent the pillars of our corporate vision,” emphasises Hartmut Reuter. Mr. Reuter, what potentials do you see for Rieter in India? We see a very big potential in India: We expect that the markets for our products in India will develop positively. The textile as well as the automotive industry will grow strongly in India. In 2006 India headed the sales ranking of Textile Systems surpassing markets like Turkey and China by far. In 2007, India was behind Turkey our second largest market, still surpassing China. In the field of textile components, all major spinning machinery manufacturers world-wide - including India and China - are among our customers. This achievement was due to the success of the TUFS, the trend towards high-class and higher automated machines and the long delivery times of our main competitors. We expect further high sales in the coming years. We also see potential for our automotive division. In 2006 we acquired a 100% share in an Indian automotive supplier. The company is located in Behror, Rajasthan and supplies customers like Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Tata, Fiat India, GM India and others with acoustic components. 29 ® Rieter Holding AG What are your plans for the near future? We want to take an active part in the development in India and participate in this growth with local creation of value. We are going to expand the presence of both our divisions in India. For both our activities we have the necessary government licenses and we want to further invest. In the division Textile Systems we are expanding our manufacturing location near Pune with a new building, new machines and additional employees and we are also planning a second production site nearby. The division Automotive Systems is expecting substantial orders from Asian car manufacturers setting up new plants in the South of India. To support these customers we are planning to establish a new production plant also in that area. We assume that this will only be the beginning. Provided that the growth rate of car production in India and our order intake will continue on the high level of the past few years we will build 3 to 4 new plants in India in the next 5 to 10 years. We calculate with a total investment volume for Textile and Automotive of 100 to 120 million US dollar for the next 5 to 10 years. Our workforce will accordingly double or even increase threefold. We have allocated the required resources. Of course, our plans in India also depend to some extent on the market development. But we are confident about the future of India and about the future of Rieter in India. And what is the vision? During the next years we want to establish in India a large-scale hub for Rieter’s textile machinery business in Asia. Rieter India will have a leading role, not only for India but also for a global business approach. Swiss Label India Rieter Machine Works Ltd. Klosterstrasse 20 CH-8406 Winterthur - Switzerland Rieter India Private Ltd. 1005-1008 Hemkunt Tower 98 Nehru Place New Delhi 110019 - India Tel: +91 11 264 485 01 Website: http://www.rieterindia.com E-mail: [email protected] C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. ® Swiss International Air Lines Ltd ® Swiss International Air Lines Ltd “The recent doubling of SWISS’ flights from Zurich to India with the addition of the Zurich-Delhi service and the stepwise successful implementation of our cooperation with Lufthansa are milestones to boost SWISS’ position in the Indian market” by Jean-Philippe Benoit, General Manager and Urs Schmid, Manager Finance J JPB: I don’t like dwelling too much on Swissair’s difficulties, which affected many of us. Imagine - Swissair, a top-notch leading airline deeply rooted in the history of aviation and with a strong corporate culture that gave the carrier a sort of very special touch with its customers world-wide, a sort of family belonging. And one day, all of a sudden, it was all unplugged, no more light. So the incredible struggle – and finally succeeded - by each and every staff, to assert the reason to start the new airline: Swiss International Air Lines. Everything became new; just like sketching on a blank sheet of paper. Speed in decision and action was the key to make an impact on the market place, gain customer acceptance fast, and with it the needed recognition and finally the trust. The innumerable, deep-cutting but necessary adjustments were needed in order to stay afloat in an increasingly challenging environment, not even mentioning the adverse external factors at that time, such as the SARS crisis or the Gulf War. SWISS has gone from 126 aircraft at foundation time to 73 today without loss in the number of seats, thanks to the larger aircraft that gradually entered service. We seem to have come to terms with all the challenges and on the way, learnt the basics: stay fit, never relax. US: The important thing for the new airline was to ensure continuity in service, remove any fear of a service disruption from mind of the customer. So basically, we had to deal with establishing a new airline from scratch - incidentally this has been the largest start-up in the industry to date, a daring complicated task given the international nature of our business pattern. All this has been achieved by delivering service standards bound to convince our customer, and in doing so, ensuring ultimate continuity of customer confidence, impression and expectations. ® Swiss International Air Lines Ltd 30 ean-Philippe Benoit (JPB) joined the SWISS India team last October, while Urs Schmid (US) has already spent 12 years in India. It will take two to cope with the remarkable growth of SWISS in India. To materialise the doubling of flights between Zurich and India with the recent introduction of the service between Delhi and Zurich in addition to the Zurich-Mumbai flights, the company has reinforced its organisation and logistics. Double capacity, but not the staff count. Jean-Philippe Benoit joined the former Swissair in 1974 and exercised a number of jobs mainly in sales and marketing before taking up the torch with enthusiasm in India. Urs Schmid, who will leave India this June after a 12-year spell will, by that time, have completed 28 years of his career with the airline. US (on India): Here, with the ascent that characterised India’s economy since 1991, culminating in the real boost experienced in recent years, practically all international airlines have increased their capacity on the India route, in spite of (maybe partly leading to) acute shortcomings in infrastructural facilities. SWISS actively participates in the race to secure its fair share of the growing cake, with year-on-year double-digit sales volumes practically since the company was founded. Huge. Electrifying. JPB: The middle-class now represents a sizeable - and enlarging – chunk of Indian society; here we talk of hundreds of millions of people with both the financial means and the eagerness for international travel. Our very target. We have also experienced a healthy, never-before, balance between our in-coming and out-going traffic. This means an increase in visitors from Europe to India and vice versa. The newest of all is this trend does not limit itself to the economy compartment, but is visible in the business class cabin as well. It is a consequence of Indian companies active in tackling new business opportunities in Europe. Think of the booming IT technology sector Swiss Label India ® Swiss International Air Lines Ltd C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E 31 in India and the call centers operated by young people fluent in English or the predominant automotive chain supply sector or even the pharma sector and above all not to forget Bollywood: all this has a direct noticeable impact on the cabin selection by customers. It is an entire new ball-game which is being played, and we have to appreciate the development in terms of our smashing business prosperity over the past 2 years. May the year 2006 and specially 2007, be the trendsetter years for a bright future ahead for SWISS in India. Managing the growth is probably the nicest problem any manager can have. What we, of course, have to do, is try and address truly sustainable growth in qualitative just as much as in quantitative terms. These issues are very much on our minds. US: Another illustration of the exploding consumer demand in the middle-class segment would be the number of new subscriptions to a mobile telephone: 7 million every month!! That is the entire population of Switzerland. This is phenomenal growth with no end seen. JPB mentioned car-parts, but now it is the full car conceptual development and manufacturing that is being established here in India. Carlos Ghosn, the famed Renault-Nissan C.E.O., plans the production of a ultra low-cost minicar, in the 3’000€ range, that will set an entirely new slice of the population behind the steering wheel for the first time in their life. Yet another quantum leap bound to reduce the gap with the consumer societies of the West. JPB: A world about our developing partnership with Lufthansa. The German carrier presently operates to 6 destinations in India, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Calcutta, partly even on a double-daily basis, for a total of 45 weekly flights. Adding our own 14, together we come to 59 weekly frequencies, giving both of us Swiss Label India an undisputed status as leader on the India-Europe axis. Our close cooperation is supported by many customer-friendly features. To quote but a few: all tariffs between the 2 airlines are combinable, so one may combine the two airlines for either in- or outbound parts of the journey, which results in greater choice of schedule. SWISS’ customers can accrue or redeem their miles on a larger and fully integrated Miles-and-More programme. Or simply, since we mentioned the tight airport infrastructure above and as a good way to comfortable alleviate the inconvenience; access is given for SWISS passengers to Lufthansa lounges. On the commercial front, the fact of joint contracting with major corporations is of course an advantage. US: India can be called a success story for SWISS. Let’s do what it takes to continually write a few successful pages in the future as well. Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. Hoechst House, 1st Floor 193 Nariman Point Mumbai 400 021 Tel : +91 22 2287 0122 - Fax : +91 22 2204 0692 E-mail: [email protected] - Website: www.swiss.com C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E SGS “Integrity, consistency, expertise and professionalism are the words that guide all our work” ® SGS Claude Lanouhe, Chief Operating Officer for the South Eastern Asia and Pacific Region. Managing Director for SGS India and Sri Lanka Claude Lanouhe is the Chief Operating Officer for the South Eastern Asia and Pacific Region as well as Managing Director for SGS India and Sri Lanka, a position he has held since 2004. Between 2000 and 2004 he worked at the Vietnam office as Managing Director after holding the post of Managing Director for SGS Senegal and before this the SGS Division Manager - Research & Development from 1989 till 1994. He joined the SGS group in 1987 and started as Branch Manager of Matrama S.A (France). Between 1973 and 1987 he held various management positions for global logistic group. Claude received his Master degree in Tropical Agronomy and Economy and 1st degree Ph.D. in Economy and Management. I 32 As far as SGS India is concerned, we deliver our expertise to a wide range of local and international customers. We provide inspection, certification, verification and testing services to various sectors of the economy, products and activities like for Agricultural, Mineral, Oil and Gas, Consumers Testing, Industry, Environment, Automotive, Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics, Services to Government, Certification of systems and services. In four years, we significantly expanded the business with huge investment in laboratory equipments. SGS India employs now 3000 people in 35 locations and 17 laboratories all over India. Our local and international customers see our company more as preferred partner than a service provider. A VERY EXTENSIVE NETWORK It has been great having been assisted by very competent managers and staff in India and in the region at all level and in every business sector. For sure it is very demanding to drive India and the region but so rewarding in regards to the development and the goals achieved. Passion and enthusiasm guide my life. Our biggest asset as an independent third party service provider is the credibility that SGS enjoys across the world. When we certify that such product complies in term of quantity, quality, specifications, the accuracy and reliability of our certificate is internationally recognized. Don’t forget our tag line is “When you need to be sure.” One key reason of our success is due to our very well interconnected network, any innovation at a place anywhere in the world benefits the whole network, in 140 countries. The transfer of knowledge from one place to another is done very efficiently. In this emerging country with enormous potential, our global expertise means that we can propose innovative solution to meet the needs expressed, we aim to be proactive and we tend to anticipate the demand in each of our sectors of activity. ® SGS n an international career, working in India has been a wonderful experience. Present in India since 1950, SGS is perceived as a unique company for its expertise, its independence and its human capital. I took the position in India in February 2004 and since I focused on positioning SGS India and SEAP region as clear leader and innovator based on a solid structure, efficient network, unique reputation and dedicated people. In brief, making sure SGS is strategically positioned to grow and serve such booming economy. INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS At a time when India is opening infrastructure projects at an exponential rate, SGS expertise and integrity are decisive. As an example, India faces problems of adulteration of road fuel with farmer tax-free kerosene heading to tax loss. The Indian Government through the Petroleum Planning Analysis Cell of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Oil Marketing Companies decided to initiate a program to mark adulterants to identify and control the illegal presence of these substances in road fuel. SGS has been able to set up such marking plan involving 300 terminal locations pan-India covering 33,000 sites. Another reason which explains SGS has benefited from the economic boom is our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of governance, no compromise on Ethics, good working conditions for our employees and the satisfaction of our customers, shareholders and the public at large. The last vital element - the passion for a job well done! SGS INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED 4B, Adi Shankaracharya Marg 400 083 Vikhroli (West), Mumbai Tel.: +91 22 2579 84 21 Fax: +91 22 2578 17 59 Website : http://www.in.sgs.com E-mail: SGS INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED Swiss Label India Index The Company Profiles B N Baldor ............................................................................................................................................................... 15 Buhler ............................................................................................................................................................... 14 Burckhardt Compression ..................................................................................................... Nestlé ............................................................................................................................................................... 22 16 P PricewaterhouseCoopers SA C Probst CONCAST AG ................................................................................................................................... ............................................... 23 - 2e de Couv. ............................................................................................................................................................... 15 33 17 R D DHL Remei AG ................................................................................................................................................................. .......................................................................................................................................... 24-25 ...................................................................................................................................................... 26-27 18 Rieter E Endress+Hauser ..................................................................................................................... 20-21 S SGS ....................................................................................................................................................................... 30 Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. .......................... 28-29 - 4e de Couv. G Gherzi Eastern Ltd. Swiss Label India ................................................................................................................... 19 ■■■ SWISS LABEL Société pour la promotion des produits et services suisses au moyen de l’Arbalète Demande d’adhésion à Swiss Label Membership application form for Swiss Label À retourner à / To be returned to : Swiss Label Schwarztorstrasse 26 - Case postale - CH-3001 Berne Tél. : +41 (0)31 380 14 35 Fax : +41 (0)31 380 14 15 [email protected] - www.swisslabel.ch L’entreprise soussignée répond aux questions suivantes et demande son adhésion à Swiss Label The undersigned company’s responses to the questions below are as follows and it hereby requests membership of Swiss Label 1. Nom de l’entreprise / Name of company__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Personne responsable / Head of company Adresse / Address ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ NPA Localité / NPA Location ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tél. : __________________________________________________ Fax : 2. __________________________________________________ E-mail : ______________________________________________ Où se trouve le siège de l’entreprise ? / Where are the company’s offices located ? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 34 3. L’entreprise est-elle une succursale / une filiale d’une entreprise étrangère ? Is the company a branch / subsidiary of a foreign company ? Oui / Yes ❏ Non / No ❏ Si oui de quelle entreprise ? If so, which company ? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. 5. Pour quels produits ou service l’entreprise désire-t-elle utiliser l’arbalète ? For which products or services does the company wish to use the Crossbow symbol ? Part suisse de la valeur totale / Swiss proportion of total value ____________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Quel est son chiffre d’affaires avec les produits ou services mentionnés ? (n’indiquer que la catégorie) What is the turnover for the products or services stated ? (state category only) ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ Moins de 0,5 million CHF / leff than 0,5 million CHF ………………taxe annuelle / annual tax rate Jusqu’à 1 million CHF / up to 1 million CHF …………………………taxe annuelle / annual tax rate De 1 à 5 millions CHF / from 1 to 5 million CHF ……………………taxe annuelle / annual tax rate De 5 à 10 millions CHF / from 5 to 10 million CHF …………………taxe annuelle / annual tax rate De 10 à 50 millions CHF / from 10 to 50 million CHF ………………taxe annuelle / annual tax rate De 50 à 100 millions CHF / from 50 to 100 million CHF ……………taxe annuelle / annual tax rate Plus de 100 millions CHF / more than 100 million CHF ……………taxe annuelle / annual tax rate : 180 CHF : 360 CHF : 480 CHF : 720 CHF : 960 CHF : 1200 CHF : 1500 CHF minimum Lieu et date / Place and date Timbre et signature / Stamp and signature ————————————————————————— ————————————————————————— ————————————————————————— ————————————————————————— Swiss Label India SWISS LABEL La marque du vrai produit suisse Das Zeichen für echte Schweizer Produkte