Do you want to know how to please the Focus India delegation? When it takes 6 minutes from landing in Bangalore to finally welcoming your luggage at the baggage claim – a masterpiece of excellent logistics and organisation of the Bengaluru International Airport! It was a perfect start to welcome us in Bangalore, often referred to be the “Garden City” of India.
When we met in the morning, the buddy system (wakeup call) showed its influence when every delegation member was in the lobby on time. The first spot on our map was Swissnex in the Heart of Bangalore, which builds the head office for all Swissnex activities over India. Swissnex is an official Swiss governmental organisation under the roof of the EDA, representing Swiss interests in India in terms of culture, science, academic and innovation. Their portfolio ranges from intercultural exchange facilitations up to support Swiss entrepreneurs with their market entry in India. Maitree Dasgupta, manager of projects and academic relations, gave an overview about India and why Swissnex is located in Bangalore, an 8.4 million inhabitant city representing the Indian Silicon Valley.
During her presentation she mentioned their last success story of a Swiss entrepreneur, who successfully launched his business plan in India with the help of young ambitious java programmers from Bangalore.
Another honourable speaker was Rolf Frei, consul general of Switzerland in India, who held a passionate speech about all the different activites of Switzerland in India, including outlook on existing and upcoming challenges, improvements and what part Switzerland can play to assist India on its way to a bright future. He mentioned the surprising fact that India accounts for the third largest export figure of beef, although India is worshiping their holy cows. After the first friendship treaty between Switzerland and India in 1948 both countries still maintain a great relationship with each other.
As last spokesperson of Swissnex, Laetitia Vionnet from Switzerland shared her gathered experience in India with the delegation. As a former EPFL student and current intern, she was able to perceive India and its daily schedule within 72 days. As part of her sharing she let the delegation participate in an hilarious Indian dance move, and it is needless to say that the delegates had a lot of fun! Her new Indian English accent, the perception of quality differences of Indian universities and managing intercultural situations she was unfamiliar with were a great part of her learning curve. At this occasion we want to say thank you to Swissnex for the lunch they offered the Focus India delegation!
In the afternoon, Hari Marar from the Bengaluru International Airport (BIAP) held a lively presentation about the development of the BIAP in partnership with Siemens, Larsen Toubro and Zurich Airport. Actually Zurich Airport is responsible for the operation and still owns a 5% stake in the BIAP. When the engineers finished their planning process for the development of the new Indian airport, the annual passenger traffic already exceeded the planned capacity of 4.5 million passengers. Therefore, 2006 the board of management decided to increase the capacity to 12 million, although they have already started construction in 2005. When the construction came to an end, the traffic increased strongly over the past few years resulting in almost 11 million passengers – a critical, but also lucky situation of fast growth and accordingly worthy business opportunities.
As an evidence of their operational excellence in the field of efficiency and engagement, they won the award for the best Indian airport in 2011. Facing 125 Indian airports as direct competitors, this award undermined their position as being the gate to the south. Among our readers we can share the information that the BIAP operators are already expecting 55 million!!! passengers in 2025 using BIAP as their favourite airport.
Nuance Group -Anirban Chowdhury who is working for the Nuance Group India since 7 years presented the local Indian subsidiary to us. Nuance Group India is an innovative duty free retailer being active in various projects promoting an economical friendly business environment. As the first company in India they introduced 100% cotton grocery bags for their clients, which are offered for free. In a joint project with a local charity organisation those bags are being produced by poor Indian women from the country side. The company strives for another presence in the Mumbai airport, where they want to expand their Bengaluru International Airport success story.
After a guided visit through the construction site and a short insight into the OCC (Operation Control Centre) we could enjoy a delicious dinner with both companies, Nuance Group and BIAP.
Silvia Frunz / Roman Zimmermann
