The Federal Association of Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW) invited people to an evening event in Vaduz/Liechtenstein on November 13, 2014 with the participation of Ms. Carmen Heinrich, head of the Swiss/Liechtenstein representative office of Dr. Wamser + Batra GmbH.
 
More and more companies are discovering India's enormous economic potential, but this subcontinent offers many differences, risks, challenges and also opportunities. Companies from the Principality of Liechtenstein and Switzerland are already successful in the market and are on their way there, not without one or two painful experiences. Successful representatives include Hilti AG, IvoclarVivadent AG, Rieter Textilmaschinen and Bühler Mühlen.
 
At the event, jointly organized by BVMW Liechtenstein and BVMW Switzerland, all aspects of the business relationship with Indian companies and partners were highlighted. After the introduction by Othmar Oehri, BVMW representative for Liechtenstein, Carmen Heinrich, head of the representative office Dr. Wamser + Batra GmbH Switzerland/Liechtenstein, on the topic “Is the tiger gaining momentum again?”. With just 8,1 million inhabitants, the customs union of Switzerland and Liechtenstein is a dwarf compared to India's 1,2 billion inhabitants. There, GDP per capita is USD 1 per year, while in Switzerland it is USD 500. Even in terms of area (India 80 million sq km), Switzerland/Liechtenstein is tiny at 000 sq km.
 
India and its new head of government, Modi, give cause for hope for a growth spurt and new potential for Western companies. Switzerland alone invested over CHF 2 billion in India last year. There are good and long-standing friendly bilateral relations between Liechtenstein/Switzerland and India, which promotes economic activities between the countries.
 
But “doing business in India” is strenuous: the challenges lie primarily in the enormous price pressure, uncontrolled schedules, difficult market conditions and the lack of specialist knowledge.
 
This was also confirmed by Martin Huthöfer, Sales Manager of Gema Switzerland GmbH and Daniel Kohler, CEO of Liechtenstein-based io-market AG. In their explanations from the practice of a capital goods manufacturer and software programmer in India, they showed how they have founded their representative offices and steadily built up their business over the last few years: patience, optimism, persistence, a good partner in implementation and trusting relationships Location is the golden recipe for success.
 
Naveen Malik, Project Leader Diamond Products Hilti AG, has been living as an Indian with his family in Switzerland for 1,5 years and works in Liechtenstein. For his part, he highlighted the cultural differences in doing business between these countries and his native India. After a process of adjustment, he realized: Western means strictly process-oriented, while in India people work more problem-oriented. In the West, for example, social networking means being actively involved in a club.
 
At the end, the Indian ambassador for Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Vatican, MK Lokesh, was the guest of honor to once again strongly promote India. He hopes that many more companies - including medium-sized companies - will decide to establish a business relationship with India.
 
C. Heinrich, Dr. Wamser + Batra GmbH, Switzerland/Liechtenstein