The Norwegian Business Association India (NBAI) & Royal Norwegian Consulate General, Mumbai, in collaboration with the Commercial section of Royal Norwegian Embassy, Delhi (INNOVATION NORWAY), for the very first time, undertook a Business Climate Survey (BCS) to assess the current and near future business climate for Norwegian companies with a specific focus on the maritime sector. The survey was launched in Mumbai by Subhash Desai, State Industries Minister for Maharashtra, who was the chief guest.
India has been described as the ‘only bright spot’ on the global economic scenario and has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world today. Norwegian companies have been present in India for long, covering areas like maritime, oil & gas, fisheries & aquaculture, ICT, health and renewable, among many others. The recent policy initiatives by the Indian government have generated a lot of interest on the Norwegian side and there is an urge to know more about the developments in India.
As India continues to be one of the countries attracting the largest foreign direct investments, Team Norway in India initiated the 1st Business Climate Survey for the Norwegian business community operating in India.
Desai stated, “I congratulate Team Norway for this wonderful initiative, which is bound to open doors for both the countries likewise. We are hopeful that the findings of this survey will potentially serve as an input for discussions and engagement with the Government of India, State governments and other stakeholders.”
During the launch, the Consul General of Norway, Torbjorn Holthe, addressed those present, saying, “The objective of the Business Climate Survey was to assess the business confidence of Norwegian companies in India in terms of the opportunities and challenges that lie in relation to doing business with a general and maritime perspective.”
The idea of the survey was to understand the profile of Norwegian companies present in India, areas in which they operate and their experience of working here.
It was also important to know how policies and projects have affected the sentiment of the Norwegian business community about India. Maritime sector being the most important for Norway in India, the survey has a dedicated report about different aspects of this sector including inland waterways, coastal shipping, ship design & building, sustainable shipping etc. It also looks into the opportunities that Norwegian companies see for themselves in India and the timeframe for the same.
Also present at the launch was Director of Innovation, Norway, Helge Tryti, who mentioned, “The economic ties between Norway and India are growing, and increasingly driven by trade in services. The Norwegian maritime companies are very optimistic (96% of them) about the sector growing in the next five years. This optimism is largely because of the steps taken and projects initiated by the present Indian government. Some areas where we see a lot of potential for both countries to work together are Sustainable Shipping, Small Scale Distribution of LNG and Smart Societies.”
“We launched the Business Climate Survey to gather opinions on the state of the economy and optimism for business today and in the future. This snapshot will allow us to understand where the stresses or hope lies within operations in India and use this critical information to discuss business needs with the Indian and Norwegian governments. Our effort to connect with these companies has been successful in the initial attempt, and we are glad to announce that the survey captures inputs from 90 Norwegian companies established in India with specific insight from the Maritime sector, receiving an impressive response rate of 83%,” said Richard Chapman, Chairman, NBAI.
The majority of Norwegian companies are established in Maharashtra, Delhi NCR, and Karnataka. The biggest Norwegian companies present in India are mainly Telenor, Statkraft, DNB, Aker Solutions, Jotun, MTR FOODS, Evry India, Kongsberg, DNV GL, among others. The largest Indian companies in Norway are HLC Technologies, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, and Tech Mahindra’s IT branch.