On the second day of our preparatory seminar we mainly focused on the topic «Transform Mobility». We listened to inspiring speeches about the rail network and roads in India. To hear more about the market entry of one of our gold sponsors BBC Group into the Indian market, the former Focus India project team member Joel Kistler, who is now working for our sponsor, was able to tell us more about this fascinating topic. Dr. Pankaj Agarwal held his speech about e-mobility in India and Juan Salomon from the Federal Office of Transport told us about the working trip to India of the Federal Councilor Simonetta Sommaruga. Andrea Gasser provided more insight into our topic «Enhance Health Care Access» and about the NGO Dignity Freedom Network, an organization providing education and healthcare access to the most vulnerable people in India. As a closing speech, we were very honored that Uttam Tripathi from Google told us more about digital innovation and the ecosystem in India via video call.
We are pleased to share some insights into each speech, provided by our delegates.
Michele Molinari, CEO of Molinari Rail – Experience of Molinari Rail in India
Michele Molinari, CEO Molinari Rail
Today we started our second day with the guest speaker Mr. Michele Molinari, CEO and founder of Molinari Rail AG, based in Winterthur. Molinari Rail AG has subsidiaries in several countries. Their customers include Bombardier, Stadler Rail, General Electrics, SBB, or Deutsche Bahn. From feasibility studies, market analysis, from the tender up to the development and implementation of a new transportation system; Molinari solves complex problems for his clients in technical, operational and business matters and creates tailormade solutions.
In his presentation he shared some experiences which Molinari Rail made in India. Molinari Rail AG has entered the Indian market because they got the opportunity to manufacture and deliver auxiliary power units (APUs) for 1000 diesel locomotives to be built in India for Indian Railways. In India 60% of the trains go by electricity and the other 40% by diesel. Common diesel locomotives always run their main diesel engines when power on – operating at an inefficient load point during standstill. Molinari’s APUs provide compressed air and electricity with best in class power to packaging size ratio. This enables highly significant fuel and emission savings as the main diesel engine can be deactivated in standstill.
Mr. Molinari recommended us to take the train at 8 o’clock in the morning in Mumbai, because this will be a unique experience.
– Written by Dario Flückiger and Rémy Thrier
Marcel Jenni from Ammann Group – Roads of India
Ammann Group is one of the world’s leading suppliers of machinery and services for the construction industry with core competence in road construction and transport infrastructure. Ammann Group is strongly interested in innovative solutions for their customers. Today, the company operates worldwide and has an extensive product range.
They expanded globe wide to bring good roads and mobility to the people. They did so in India as well. The roads in India can vary a lot and can be dangerous. Thanks to Amman Group, India’s roads are now developing. India is nowadays becoming the 4th largest road construction market. However, making business deals in India is more difficult than expected. Indians are really price-sensitive and Ammann Group’s machines are expensive products. This was a huge challenge for the Amman Group. They had to create a product that does a good job and does not cost much. “Good enough” is the key. To be successful in this market you must adapt the machine and make it simple. This means low segment “good enough”-technology to the lowest production costs.
“If you are in India you have to do it the Indian way” – Marcel Jenni
– Written by Rosina Genovese and Timothy Triebold
Marcel Jenni, Ammann Group
Joel Kistler from BBC Group – Entry of BBC Group into the Indian Market
Joel Kistler, BBC Group
BBC Bircher Smart Access produces systems for automatic doors and gates and is based in Switzerland. They employ around 180 employees worldwide and belong to the BBC Group. Joel Kistler wrote his bachelor thesis about Bircher Smart Access: Market entry into India. After his studies, he started working for the BBC Group and is currently working on opening the market and market development for Bircher in India.
Joel Kistler was also a part of the project team of Focus India in 2019. During the On-Site seminar in India, he used the opportunity to establish a network that would help him to source his bachelor thesis. He experienced different ways of communication in India, for example, most of the time emails remain unanswered compared to WhatsApp messages, that have a higher response rate even in the corporate field. The result of his bachelor thesis supported the decision towards a market entry into the Indian market due to the size of the market, the growing of the awareness for safety in India, and many more reasonable points. The main challenges were that there was almost no experience or knowledge of the market situation in India which required new development of solutions. For the realization, Joel reached out to all his connections he built up during the On-Site seminar to set up meetings. He approached almost every customer in India and tried to establish connections over Europe to India.
– Written by Emanuel Graf and Nik Ulrich
Dr. Pankaj Agarwal from Panitek AG – E-Mobility Usage in India
Panitek Power is an in Switzerland and India based investment and project development company dedicated to bringing CleanTech solutions from Europe and North America to its customers in emerging markets such as India. The philosophy of Panitek is to believe in a cleaner and greener future. Because of their global network, they can play the crucial role of bridging the gap and creating strategies to bring clean energy solutions to those places that need them the most. The focus of their projects are on electric mobility, renewable power, smart grid and energy storage space.
If we have a look at the automobile industry of India, it is currently the 5th largest in the world and is set to take over as 3rd largest automobile industry by 2030. As a result, pollution in major Indian cities has become extremely critical with a worldwide impact. That is why the Indian government has been pushing for the launch of electric vehicles to reduce its oil imports and pollution. To fullfill the commitment to the Paris Agreement, the Indian Government has plans to make a major shift to electric vehicles by 2030. The goal is to bring a single user to the new mobility paradigm such as shared, electric or connected mobility. From 2030 onwards only electric vehicles should be sold in India.
Some electric cars, motorcycles, buses, mini pick-up trucks, heavy duty trucks, rickshaws and railways are already available in India. The electric vehicle market has a promising potential in the future.
– Written by Jasmina Velupillai and Martina Hespelt
Pankaj Agarwal, Panitek AG
Juan Salomon from the Federal Office of Transport – The Journey of Simonetta Sommaruga to India
Juan Salomon, Federal Office of Transport
In August 2017 Doris Leuthard made a state visit and agreed with the Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi that green technology can be one of the key areas of bilateral cooperation. Switzerland and India have the same energy policy: to reduce the independency of fossil energy and focus on renewable energy. Although India has the largest solar program worldwide, it offers a lot of opportunities for Swiss companies to invest in India.
The goal of the visit of our Federal Councilor Simonetta Sommaruga in October 2019 was to deepen the relationship between Switzerland and India. In India, Simonetta Sommaruga visited Bangalore, New Delhi and Coimbatore. The two delegations who accompanied Simonetta Sommaruga on the working visit to India were representatives of the clean tech industry and railway industry. Also the Federal Office of Transport was invited because of the meeting of Simonetta Sommaruga and the minister of railways. During the stop in New Delhi the focus was on the railways. The goal was to promote the support of the Swiss private sector to contribute to the development of modernization of the Indian railways.
Thanks to the direct contact between Swiss companies and Indian authorities, a dynamic Swiss-Indian relationship has developed.
– Written by Lara Wieland
Andrea Gasser from Dignity Freedom Network – Human Trafficking and Health Care Access
Andrea Gasser is one of the crucial helpers in the still underdeveloped health care sector of India. Together with the help of the project dignity freedom network, DFN, they try to help mainly women and marginalized groups of the Indian society to get access to health care and further help that they need. DFN has a strong focus on distributing health care amongst the weakest and most vulnerable members of India. Moreover, further help is provided by the DFN by means of skill training and an English medium education. Also the raising of awareness is one of the key elements for DFN in order to make a real change.
Amongst the biggest obstacles to health care access are factors such as geographical isolation, poverty, lack of education, caste system, gender, age, and marginalized groups (Dalits). For example, if you are poor you might not be able to afford traveling to the nearest hospital. Furthermore, if one lives in poverty the worry about costs of insurances, medicine and treatments is huge and therefore, one may decide against seeking out a doctor to get help.
In India a severe problem is the caste system, especially for the lowest member of the caste, the Dalits. Dalits will most often not be treated by many doctors, as it is considered to be prohibited to have contact with the Dalits. One of the aims of DFN is to help the Dalits to receive the help they need. Like the Dalits, other marginalized groups in general like the LGBT-community are amongst the most vulnerable groups.
Andrea Gasser stated that the most important factor to help people is education. An educated woman knows better where, when, and how to access and find help. Education is also a key factor in finding a way out of poverty. Education helps to change the status and delivers a way out of dependency and vulnerability.
The way the DFN works is that they start identifying the vulnerable group. Then they start with the advocacy where they work together with the police or the government to plug the gap. A huge part of this help is to empower those people so that they can help themselves and stand up for themselves. With this, they help them in the long run as well as enable them to help others.
– Written by Raphael Wyss
Andrea Gasser, Dignity Freedom Network
Uttam Tripathi from Google – Digital Innovation and Ecosystem in India
Our delegation actively participated and asked questions
The last presentation was held by Uttam Tripathi from Google who was talking to us via video call from Google’s head quarter in Silicon Valley. Uttam leads global programs for the developer community ecosystem at Google. In his current role, Uttam has built and grown the global programs organization driving awareness, education and training, adoption and feedback for Google’s developer products among developers worldwide while keeping needs of the developers first. In his earlier roles, Uttam led Launchpad (Startup Outreach Program) at Google and was country head, developer relations for Google in India & South East Asia.
As a last speaker of day 2 of the preparatory seminar, Uttam provided us with information regarding digital innovation and ecosystem in India. Our delegation actively listened, participated, and asked good questions. We are thrilled to have such a motivated and engaging delegation.