Companies from Austria have a more positive attitude towards the Indian market than German ones - even though they are still a few years behind them in terms of market development in India.
We come to this conclusion in our empirical studies (India business climate index, 2016 in Austria and 2017 Germany), which are also confirmed by our subjective experiences from current projects.
Successful customer projects in Austria
Two years ago we opened our India consultancy, led by Wolfgang Bergthaler, our Austria office in Graz. Since then, our team of experts has also been supporting companies from the Alpine republic in their business activities in India.
Our first customers from Austria include companies from the renewable energy and mobility sectors, mechanical engineering, metal processing and the plastics and construction industries. The projects to date range from market entry (founding a company) and filling management positions (Human Resources), to strategy development (Market Solutions) through to support in complex approval processes and taking on tasks in the area of finance and compliance.
With the exception of the crisis management department, we have already been able to demonstrate our experience in all areas of the company. You can find some selected reference customers from Austria here.
Austrian companies are making slow progress in India.
According to Statistics Austria, that was in 2017 bilateral trade volume between Austria and India around 1,6 billion euros. Exports - especially electrical machines, systems, apparatus and measuring instruments - amount to around 750 million euros, while imports - especially clothing and shoes, but also road vehicles - amount to 825 million euros. After several years of export surpluses, Austria has now widened its trade deficit with India again. This is remarkable because Austrian exporters have extremely interesting niche technologies for the Indian growth market, for example in the area of environmental technology. We have discussed the typical reasons for a lack of sales success in India in this article:
https://https://www.wb-indien.de/blog/2017/03/vertrieb-in-indien/
Another reason for the mostly cautious entry into the market is simply the size of Austrian exporters, which are on average significantly smaller than their German counterparts. And without appropriate capital investment and the establishment of your own structures (local sales organizations or even local production), the opportunities in India often remain unused.
Today, fewer than 150 Austrian companies with branches or joint ventures (JVs) have an active local presence in India. Hundreds of other companies work with sales partners - and mostly only with modest success.
Brave for the new times
Nevertheless, most Austrian companies look positively towards India. Also, or especially, because - compared to Germany - they are only at the beginning of their (more intensive) commitment to India, they are above average satisfied - even with small successes. This was also evident from the dozens of conversations we had with the owners and managers over the last two years. However, in Austria we must again warn against excessive carelessness. Because it is not uncommon for the dangers on the Indian market to be underestimated or the potential to be overestimated (keyword: “Super Indian”).
We are always available (not only) to our Austrian customers as a discussion and sparring partner for India in a straightforward and non-binding manner. You can also find in our current Management Handbook for India Dozens of practical tips – equally relevant for India beginners and veteran India managers.
