Bavaria, considered the economic powerhouse of Germany, is wooing Indian companies and research organisations to collaborate and partner with companies back home and possibly leverage such partnership to tap the large European Union market.

There are more than 1,100 original equipment manufacturers in Bavaria, a home for two of the major automotive manufacturers, BMW and Audi, who have potential to partner with Indian companies. Similarly a number of areas such as information technology and communication, life sciences, and research and development, where there is potential to collaborate, according to John Kottayil, Executive Director, State of Bavaria, India Office.

Speaking at an interactive session on “Doing Business with Bavaria,” Kottayil said that the dynamic location offers scope to collaborate and work with small and medium sized units, each unit employing less than 250 people, who contribute significantly to the local economy.

The auto sector has more than 1,000 OEMs and with Indian companies seeking to go global, there are number of areas they could collaborate in, including auto parts, research and development and possibly in the areas of new lighter materials such as aluminium and carbon fibre, he explained.

In the ICT sector for instance, he said that there has been growing interest in start ups and finance suited to start ups is available. The potential is unlimited in the areas of internet of things, bid data and machine to machine communication.

Vanitha Datla, Chairperson of CII Telangana, and Executive Director and CFO of Elico Limited, said that the newly created 29{+t}{+h} State of the country, with its industrial policy and supportive environment offers scope for Bavarian companies to consider locating their facilities, while local companies could explore opportunities to cooperate to tap the European market.