India & Europe
Why export to India?
Increasing demand for international quality.
- Virgin market with large and growing potential.
- Relatively low investments required for market entry due to India's low cost environment.
- The Indian economy was only slightly affected by the recession (5.5% growth). Growth for 2010 is expected to be more than 7%. European countries witnessed their economies shrink with 4% on average during 2009.
- Participating right now means to profit and capitalize on the enormous growth potential on the mid long term.
- Mc Kinsey estimates that the wealthier part of the middle class could grow from 50 to 580 million in 2025.
The relatively high import taxes are expected to decline in the upcoming years. One of the reasons for the reduction of this protectionism is the pressure by the WTO, of which India is a member.
The average import duty tariff has been reduced to a current average of 25%; this used to be around 400%. The future looks bright.
The main motive for companies currently investing in India, is the presence of a fast growing market, driven by a fast upcoming middle class, urbanization and the expansion of the organized retail sector. After investing in sales and infrastructure in India, international firms expect to reap profits in the nearby future.
Europe - The Netherlands
ABOUT EUROPE
With 27 member countries and a population of nearly half a billion, the European Union covers a large part of Europe. Since its creation, it has worked to bring prosperity and stability to its citizens. Its policies and actions affect us all directly and indirectly.
The European Union aims to be a fair and caring society, committed to promoting economic prosperity and creating jobs by making companies more competitive and giving workers new skills. The European Union is the world’s biggest trading power and a major donor of financial and technical assistance to poorer countries.
ABOUT THE NETHERLANDS
The Netherlands is a constituent country in Northwestern Europe of the Kingdom of the Netherlands with borders the North Sea and Germany to the East. Being one of the first parliamentary democracies, the Netherlands was a modern country from its inception.
Among other affiliations the country is a founding member of the European Union (EU), NATO, OECD, WTO and has signed the Kyoto protocol.
The Netherlands is a densely populated country. It is known for its windmills, tulips, clogs, delftware, gouda cheese, visual artist, bicycles and traditional values.
Sourcing opportunities (India)
India is known for its large IT industry and developments in outsourcing and offshoring during recent decades. Words like ‘callcenter’, ‘outsourcing’ and ‘back office’ are quickly linked to India nowadays.
Besides the IT industry, India has been developing its production facilities to which international companies outsource. As a result of the high education level, every year hundreds of thousands new technical educated engineers enter the workforce. Production- and assembly facilities are managed in a professional way.
The knowledge and skills present in India convince more and more companies to also (partly) outsource product development (R&D) to the country. In comparison to China (purely mass production), is India perfectly able to execute these activities.
Other reason to outsource production to India:
- Very cost-effective production of small (test) series.
- The spread of risk. Companies do not want to depend purely on China. More often firms also look at countries like Vietnam and China (multi-sourcing strategy).
- Many high educated engineers available in every imaginable specialism.
- The level of the English knowledge.
Economics - The Netherlands
ECONOMIC
The Netherlands has a prosperous and open country in which the government has reduced its role since the 1980s. Industrial activtiy is predominantly in food-processing (for example Unilever and Heineken International), Financial services (for exemple ING Group), Chemicals (for example DSM), Petroleum refining (for example Royal Dutch Shell) and electrical machinery (for example Philips)
The Netherlands has the 16th largest economy in the world, and ranks 10th in GDP (nominal) per capita with inflation of approx. 1,3% and unemployment is at 3,3 of the labor force, the lowest in Europe.
The Netherlands location gives it prime access to markets in the UK and Germany, with the port of Rotterdam being the largest port in Europe. Rotterdam was the world’s seventh largest container port in terms of twenty foot equivalent units (TUE) handled. The port’s main activities are petrochemical industries and general cargo handling and transshipment. Amsterdam is the 5th busiest tourist destination in Europe with more than 4,2 Million international visitors.
The country is to be one of the leading European nations for attracting foreign direct investment and is one of the five largest investors in the U.S.