Indian growth awes Finland

Latter seeks partnership in range of sectors

MUMBAI: Outokumpu a six-billion-euro Finnish stainless steel maker is planning to set up operations at the outskirts of Mumbai, revealed Paavo Vayrynen, Finland’s minister for foreign trade and development.

In the first phase, OutoKumpu will set up a service centre at a cost of about 10-15 million euros before venturing into a bigger cold rolling mill, with an investment in excess of 100 million euros.

The 20-member Finnish trade delegation led by Paavo Vayrynen is here in the city to understand the “India phenomenon” from closer quarters as Finnish companies increase their exposure in the country.

The city happened to be the third leg of the trip as the Finnish contingent traveled from New Delhi to Chennai before concluding the visit in the commercial capital.

According to the minister, Finnish companies together provide employment to 20,000 employees in India, with half of the employment accounted for by Nokia.

The minister is bullish that trade will grow exponentially. He has done some hard selling meeting Indian businessmen. “We are positioning ourselves as the gateway to reach the European Union. We have a ready market with a 500 million EU population and we have Russia as our next-door neighbour.

Accompanying him in what is a week-long trip to India is a team from Alteams which makes light metal castings for the automobile industry and mobile phones. Alteams has proposed to set up a unit that at peak capacity will employ about 1,500 people in Chennai.

While the minister admitted that Nokia is playing an important role in getting Finland’s businessmen to do business abroad, especially in India, he also pointed out the role played by Finnair in bringing nations closer. Any plane that flies from India to USA flies over Finland, he said. He sensed an opportunity there. “We want some of the Indian flights to Europe and USA to land in Helsinki and make our capital the airport hub for onward travel.”

Finland is the closest to India among European nations, he said. Finnair is expanding operations by making flights to Mumbai daily and also add an additional destination to the south either in Bangalore or Chennai. “In two years, we’ll have flights landing in both southern cities,” he added.Finland wants to double its 60 million euro trade with India in four years time, said Vayrynen. “We had a good exchange and we (Kamal Nath) agreed that the trade can be doubled easily,” the minister added.

Vayrynen said the growth in trade between Finland is growing 20% annually in the last two years.

This is the minister’s third trip to India, but first in the capacity as a foreign trade minister. The minister had come before in the nineties.

But even as the minister did a lot of hard selling, he’s clear that Finland is a costly proposition. If costs are the only criterion for some Indian businesses, then Bulgaria and Romania is the right place. Finland is eyeing Indian businesses in the ICT segment and renewable energy segment.

There are already 70 Finnish companies having Indian subsidiaries but the most notable is Nokia, the mobile phone handset maker.