The 68th edition of the Annual General Meeting, the flagship event of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) took place on the 27th of September, 2024. The event commenced at the Four Seasons Hotel, Mumbai, infusing the rainy Friday afternoon with warmth and camaraderie.
Despite the adverse weather conditions, the event had a commendable turnout of 150 attendees, high dignitaries from various walks of life, including the gracious attendance of Achim Fabig, Consul General, German Consulate General, Mumbai.
Inaugurating the event
The event was inaugurated with Opening Remarks by Stefan Halusa, Director General of IGCC, he took the opportunity to thank IGCC’s board members, advisory council members, and IGCC members, together with the outgoing office bearer, George Ettiyil, Senior Director- South Asia, Lufthansa Group, for his immense collaboration, and his inputs towards the growth of the organisation.
Mr. Halusa made an official announcement following the technical AGM which took place earlier that morning, along with the IGCC board meeting, welcoming the incoming office bearers for the next twelve months, looking forward to a steady growth in the Indo-German business arena.
The new Office Bearers for the year 2024-2025:
President of IGCC
Kaushik Shaparia, CEO Deutsche Bank India and Emerging Markets,
Vice President of IGCC
Sindhu Gangadharan, MD, SAP Labs India and Head, Customer Innovation Services, SAP,
Treasurer of IGCC
Frank Schlöder, Managing Director, Häfele India Pvt Ltd.
Thereafter, Mr. Ettiyil delivered the welcome address extending his warm welcome to the distinguished speakers of the evening, Kaushik Das, Managing Director and the Chief Economist for India/South Asia at Deutsche Bank, Vinayak Godse, CEO of Data Security Council of India, and Anveshi Sauraj Global Head, Cyber Defense Center, Giesecke+Devrient.
His remarks: “Reflecting on this past year, one major change was the successful introduction of the new Articles of Association, paving the way for a new advisory council and allowing for more rotation of the structure of the Board.”
Further, he congratulated the latest addition to the IGCC board, Pratima Reddy, Managing Director, Merck Life Science Pvt Ltd, Rinsi Sud, Director & Chief Representative, DZ Bank India Representative Office, Alexander Gerding, Managing Director, BASF India Ltd., and Simon Wiebusch, Managing Director & CEO, Bayer CropScience Ltd.
Another significant feather in the cap of this year, he mentioned, is the beginning of the Regional Council in Germany. Two of the many positive developments in terms of Indo-German relationships that the past year has seen are:
- Bilateral trade between India and Germany has surpassed pre-covid levels
- The number of Indian students studying in Germany has risen from 45,000 to 50,000, making Indian students the largest international student community in Germany.
Insights from the Panel Discussions:
Presentation on “Economic Outlook of India: Growth, Innovation, and Opportunities”
“By 2027, we will become the third largest economy by size.”
Kaushik Das, Managing Director and the Chief Economist for India/South Asia at Deutsche Bank, shared his insights on how India should look like by the end of the year 2030, a long-term oriented look and what the structural changes that are taking place in India are, in turn, provoking thought about investment opportunities in India over the next ten to fifteen years. This presentation was moderated by Florian Wenke, Director India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Germany Trade & Invest.
According to Mr. Das, India as an economy is transitioning to simplify business regulations, indirect tax structure or FDI norms, etc. India is trying to achieve transparency from a fiscal and business perspective, making it available online for the public so that people are free of doubt. There is also a shift seen from the focus on ‘poverty alleviation’ to ‘wealth creation’. India’s efforts in creating resilience in times of diverse and uncontrollable situations have increased and shown promising results.
He spoke about the low rate of urbanization and vehicle ownership in India and how it is expected to double or triple over the coming decades. This would be due to the growing aspirational middle class and the increase of German auto companies investing in the upcoming generations. The country's demographic dividend and ongoing reforms are expected to drive sustained economic growth, with India projected to become the world's third-largest economy by 2027.
India's expanding middle class and growing consumer market offer significant investment opportunities across various sectors, including manufacturing, infrastructure, and technology. While India faces challenges such as regional disparities and infrastructure bottlenecks, these also present opportunities for investors to capitalize on the country's development potential.
Overall, Mr. Das' presentation paints a positive picture of India's economic future, highlighting its potential to become a global economic powerhouse.
Fireside Chat on “India's Path to a Digital Future”
“DPI (Digital Public Infrastructure) is the way to digitize the economy” - Vinayak Godse
“In this world where you are doing business where you have third parties integrated into your systems, into your organisation’s ecosystem, it is very important that you catch what you find suspicious, at a lightning-fast rate. The only mechanism is to have your Incidents Response mechanism working very well” - Anveshi Sauraj
In the era of swift digitalisation, it is a need of the hour to understand where we stand as a nation on the path to a digital future. To address this, a fireside chat was conducted with Vinayak Godse, CEO of Data Security Council of India, and Anveshi Sauraj Global Head, Cyber Defense Center, Giesecke+Devrient and was moderated by Mr. Halusa.
Key questions discussed during the chat include:
- How is the digital India initiative progressing and what are the key challenges and opportunities presented in the path?
- What would be the critical areas of investment that need to be strengthened to secure cybersecurity in the digital public infrastructure?
- What would be some appropriate measures to combat the challenges in cybersecurity?
- What would be the appropriate solutions for smaller companies that do not necessarily have the means to manage the whole complexity of their supply chain? How can they make sure that their data and the data of their customers can be protected?
- Would quantum technology increase the risk of cyberthreat or is there also an opportunity to reduce the same?
- What would the regulatory measures to decrease and manage cybersecurity be, taking the governments into consideration?
- Cybercriminals are not operating from one single country, they work across borders. How can India collaborate with other countries and/or international organizations to effectively address these global security challenges or to fight cybercrime?
The cognizance on this topic shared by our speakers, who carry years of experience to back their respective areas of expertise, was highly valuable in providing everyone present at the event with substantial learning which would enlighten the path to digitalisation in the nation.
Launching the IGCC & Rödl Handbook
The highlight of AGM’ 24 was the launch of the IGCC & Rödl Handbook- “ROADMAP TO INDIA: TRANSITION FROM DISTRIBUTION TO MANUFACTURING SET UP” by Ute Brockmann, Deputy Director General & Head of DE international Services, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, and Rahul Oza, Partner, Director, Head of Practice - West and South India, Rödl & Partner. This was brought about to help German companies discover optimal locations, key factors for success, the potential of India's young workforce, and to collaboratively unlock manufacturing opportunities.
Weaving a social fabric
The Annual General Meeting’ 2024 culminated with a vote of thanks by Mr. Shaparia, President 2024-25, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, which was followed by concluding remarks by Mr. Halusa. A networking session over High-Tea commenced thereafter, providing an immense opportunity for our members to form connections, and hence weave a social fabric of ideas, innovations, and unprecedented development in business.
Civilizations have been driven towards growth, development and expansion of their horizon of knowledge through ‘networking’, since time immemorial, termed differently at different points of time. Networking - building relationships with other professionals, meeting people, exchanging information, and potentially collaborating on projects or opportunities - is very essential in the business community.
This event was supported by our Gold Partners, Deutsche Bank, Lufthansa Group, Rödl & Partner, and our Silver Partners, DZ BANK AG, EJOT India, Evonik, Groz-Beckert, Hafele India Private Limited, Jungheinrich India, Maier+Vidorno, MPS Archonic India, NRB Bearings Limited, Siemens. Their presence and cooperation with IGCC were at the core of the successful 68th AGM of the organization.
