The managing director of the management consultancy specializing in India, Dr. Wamser + Batra GmbH, Mike D. Batra, in an interview with the magazine “Markt und Mittelstand”.
Excerpt from: “Market and medium-sized businesses”
(…) In India too, special investment zones are intended to attract foreign companies to the country. But a different model has actually proven itself in practice. (…)
Similar to China, India also offers incentives for medium-sized companies to open their own production companies locally. There are technology parks, for example for hardware and software or for biotechnology. But special economic zones (SEZs), in which companies benefit from tax breaks, simplified start-up regulations and a well-developed infrastructure, are also intended to attract foreign companies to the country - although with only moderate success. “In practice, however, apart from the IT sector, these SEZs have not proven so successful, also due to unclear guidelines between the central government and the states, and therefore have not yet played a major role in the choice of location,” says India expert Mike D. Batra from the consulting firm Dr. Wamser + Batra. Excessive bureaucracy in India has always hindered the business of German companies. (…) What is more interesting is a model that has been around for many years and that medium-sized companies can choose regardless of regional considerations - the so-called “Export Oriented Unit” (EOU). The advantage is that basically every company can become an EOU regardless of the industry or size and can also locate where it wants and where it can find the best skilled workers, for example. The only requirement is that the company that needs to be founded has a pure export focus. (…)
