Modi, Merkel agree to fast-track business deals in India

Germany signed 18 deals with India’s government, including on renewable energy and fast-tracking approvals for German companies to operate in India.

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New Delhi // Prime minister Narendra Modi on Monday hailed Germany as a “natural partner” of India after signing deals with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on clean energy and speeding up the European powerhouse’s investment in Asia’s third largest economy.

Mrs Merkel held talks with the Mr Modi on her first trip to New Delhi since the prime minister’s right-wing party stormed to power in May 2014 promising to reform and revive the economy.

Germany signed 18 deals with India’s government, including on renewable energy and fast-tracking approvals for German companies to operate in India.

“We see Germany as a natural partner in achieving our vision of India’s economic transformation. German strengths and India’s priorities are aligned,” Mr Modi said after meeting Mrs Merkel, who arrived in the capital on Sunday.

Foreign companies have long despaired at India’s levels of taxation, corruption and other obstacles to doing business. But many have welcomed Mr Modi’s efforts to make it a faster and more reliable place to invest.

The two countries signed agreements worth €2 billion (Dh8.25bn) on German investment in developing India’s clean energy corridors and solar energy industry, ahead of crucial UN climate change talks late this year. Germany is already India’s most important trading partner in Europe and both Mr Modi and Mrs Merkel have said they are keen to increase trade.

But Germany’s foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said German companies were concerned about “too much red tape, infrastructure hurdles, corruption, lack of skilled labour (and) tax disputes” in India.

* Agence France-Presse