Post by Nico Luchsinger

Indian Minister of Trade Piyush Goyal spoke at yesterday's Swissmem Industry Day - where he traveled with a delegation of 90 (!) business representatives. His key points: 📈 India’s economy is about US $4 trillion today, and New Delhi has set a 2047 goal of US $30 trillion. ⚖️ India is a democracy governed by law; Swiss investors will receive equal treatment. 🤝 We see the India-EFTA Trade & Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) as a Trust-and-Efficiency Partnership. 🧩 Switzerland and India complement one another; we do not compete. 🎓 India turns out more STEM graduates than any other country, and about 43 % of them are women. 🚀 Swiss firms should raise their ambitions—India is ready for your growth plans. 🛡️ India is emerging from the shadows; global turbulence is likely to hit us less than many other economies. There is indeed tremendous opportunity and potential in India, and it was great to see the interest in the country from Swiss companies. Some additional points from a recent session we did Asia Society Switzerland on India that are worth considering: 📉 While India is the fastest-growing large economy, growth is still underperforming relative to what it would need 💸 FDI is at a 10-year low; India has so far only captured about 15% of the China-diversifying investments (vs. 50% for Vietnam) ⚔️ India is indeed in a geopolitical sweet spot, but border conflicts with China and Pakistan, and especially the recent clashes in Kashmir, are worrisome. Risk of miscalculation is increasing. 📲 India’s digital public infrastructure has proven transformative: Digital identity scheme Aadhaar covers 1.3bn people, and UPI (Universal Payment Interface) transactions grew from 40m / day in 2019 to 550m / day today. Thank you for the invitation Swissmem Noé Blancpain Stefan Brupbacher Martin Hirzel! Esther-Mirjam de Boer Pascal Chamal Gunasekera Severin K. Reto Gerber Christian Kolbe Sebastian Ramspeck