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India is one of the largest producers of pharmaceutical products and a leading player in the global generics market, exporting nearly 50% of its production. In the generics market, India exports 20% of global generics, making it the largest provider of generic medicines globally. Sweden on the other hand is one of the leaders in Pharma R&D.
Thus, Pharmaceuticals is one of the significant industries, where India and Sweden share mutual interests. Further, as a developing country, health care is critical for India to increase the quality of life in the country. Indian pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies like Dr.Reddys, Biocon, Kemwell, SunPharma and CadilaPharma have formed collaborative relations in Sweden.
In 2009, Sweden and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate collaboration in health care. In the last few years, several projects have been launched as a result of this MoU, especially in the focus areas of infection control, lifestyle diseases, elderly care, tertiary care and maternal and child care. Additionally, The Swedish Life Science and Healthcare Platform in India was launched with the objective to collaborate in the Healthcare sector and to provide opportunities in areas of research, innovation and best practices adoption.
India’s automotive sector is the fourth largest in the world and with an average production of 24 million vehicles annually and generation of employment for over 29 million people. Successful collaboration in the automotive sector is considered the backbone of Indo-Swedish economic cooperation. The sector has received the maximum share of Swedish investments in India, which constitutes 33% of the total share.
The Volvo Group, one of the world’s biggest multinational manufacturing companies based in Sweden, was the first to establish their manufacturing plant in India. Volvo India Private Limited was established in 1998 at Hoskote near Bangalore, with an investment of USD 70 million and currently has manufacturing setups in Hosakote, Peenya, Bengaluru in Karnataka, and Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh. Similarly, another large Swedish automobile manufacturer, Scania, opened its operations in the country in 2013, with its first plant in Bengaluru, which can produce 2,500 trucks and 1000 buses annually. The company is world’s leading manufacturer of commercial vehicles such as heavy trucks, buses and diesel engines; which are known for their quality and performance.
India presents a range of opportunities for Swedish automotive suppliers. Through existing relations with Swedish OEMs, the Indian business ecosystem aims to give prospective companies a window of opportunity to make their localisation simpler.
India launched the Smart Cities Mission, with the objective to provide sustainable living in cities, which are challenged by rapid urbanization. To realise this vision, major investments are required coupled with smart solutions in the fields of urban mobility, communication & connectivity, waste management, sustainable energy supply etc.
In 2015, during the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Sweden, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of Sustainable Urban Development was inked to promote bilateral cooperation in urban development and sustainable living.
Swedish companies are known for their sustainable approach especially when it comes to urban development. In order to facilitate implementation of such smart city solutions, the Sweden India Smart Cities Platform has been established. The platform explores and matches Swedish smart city solutions with Indian needs.
The Capital Goods sector is a key focus sector to boost manufacturing activity through the provision of critical inputs - machinery and equipment. One of the largest and critical sectors for India, the industry currently stands at USD 43.4 billion, with total domestic production to the tune of USD 35.4 billion recorded in Financial Year (FY) 2014-15. The market share in the sector is dominated by Heavy Electrical, power plant equipment and construction equipmentsub-sector, which constitutes about 69% of aggregate production.
Sweden is a strong manufacturing country. The manufacturing industry has been Sweden’s growth engine in recessions as well as during economic booms and has since long constituted a major part of Sweden’s GDP growth. Some of the world’s leading manufacturing companies started in Sweden and are today global brands, such as Ericsson, ABB, Volvo, Scania, Atlas Copco and SKF. 75% of the R&D investments in Sweden is performed by the manufacturing industry and Swedish is on 4th place globally in terms of R&D investments.
India is an emerging market with great potential and a successful collaboration in this sector will prove to be beneficial.
India currently has the 4th largest installed capacity of wind power. Government of India announced the renewable energy target of installing 175 GW capacity by 2022 and 24x7 Power for All by 2019. India’s share of non fossil-fuel in the total installed capacity is projected to increase from 30%in 2015 to 40% in 2030. While India is moving rapidly towards this target, Sweden is already a leader in the field. 83% of electricity production in Sweden comes from nuclear and hydroelectric power. Cogeneration from combined heat and power (CHP) plants accounts for 10 per cent of the electricity output in Sweden, and these are mainly powered by biofuels. About 7 per cent of the electricity comes from wind power.
The India-Sweden Innovations Accelerator program supports and promotes business relations in India by matching Swedish energy related innovations with Indian demand.. The program has resulted in successful introduction of over 30 companies including Cleanmotion, FOV Biogas, Regin AB, Metrum AB, Fortum etc.
Earlier, in 2005, India and Sweden entered into an agreement in the field of Science and Technology. One of the most critical areas listed under this agreement is ‘Sustainable Environmental Technology’. Later, in 2010, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in the sphere of Renewable Energy to bolster partnership in the areas of Solar Energy, Clean Energy and Hydrogen/Fuel Cells, among others.
The food processing industry is of significant importance for both Sweden as well as India. It has emerged as an important segment of the Indian economy in terms of its contribution to GDP, employment and investment. There is immense focus on developing quality food processing and preservation infrastructure, and several Mega Food Parks and Cold Storage projects are under development for capacity addition.
Sweden is world renowned for quality, ingenuity and technology development in food processing equipment. The Swedish food industry is technologically advanced, and the market for functional foods is growing. Sweden has industry leaders in dairy and beverage processing, coffee roasting, fish and meat processing, and milling and bakery.
Tetra Pak, the world’s leading food processing and packaging solutions, is a fine example of a Swedish major setting up shop in India. They cater to the huge domestic Indian market, as well as export to other South Asian nations. Tetra Pak’s vision is in line with the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Swacch Bharat’ initiatives, with their strong commitment to environment and sustainability to ensure that cartons are collected and recycled.
Investment and collaboration opportunities exist across the food processing value chain in India, such as processing units for marine, meat, dairy and fruits and vegetables, and development of support infrastructure like pack houses and cold chains.
The Indian retail industry has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast-paced industries driven by entry of several new players. The sector accounts for more than 10% of India’s GDP and around 8 per cent of employment.. India has been ranked No. 1 in the 2017 Global Retail Development Index and will be the 3 rd largest consumer economy by 2025.
The sector has grown mostly on the back of increasing domestic consumption driven by income growth and urbanization. To cater to this increasing demand, many foreign players have entered the Indian retail space.
Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), the Sweden-based fashion retailer, and IKEA, the Swedish furniture retailer are already invested in India. Further, they are in process of increasing their footprint in the Indian market. While the present investment wave is being driven by major players, Swedish small and medium retailers are expected to follow suit.
The Indian Textile Industry is the backbone of the Indian Economy, with its products ranging from the hand-woven sector on one end and the capital intensive mill sector on the other. The sector contributes around 10% to India’s manufacturing production and 2% to its GDP.
Sweden carries out extensive research in areas of textile materials, textile techniques, textile and apparel design; textile handicraft and textile management. In the sphere of textile machinery, Sweden boasts of a range of advanced industrial machinery for knitting and weaving.
Sweden’s unique array of modern and computerized industrial machinery for knitting & weaving fits well in India where in the weaving sector, shuttle-less weaving machinery (rapier or jet) and in the knitting sector (circular knitting and flat knitting) machineries hardly have any presence. Thus there are various areas of collaboration which can be capitalized upon by textile companies from both India and Sweden.
The two most important initiatives in this sector taken up by Sweden are Textile Water Initiative and Climate Smart Production. The Textile Water Initiative was launched to minimise the environmental effects of factories and enhance their capacity to bridge gaps in this field. The Climate Smart Production is a programme that supports innovation in technology to enable environmentally friendly materials and processes.