Cabinet approves Indo-German pacts on energy, capital goods sectors

The agreement on capital goods is aimed at providing a platform to various Indian PSUs and capital goods sector units to have an easy access to German expertise The Dollar Business Bureau

: Fraunhofer will be a ‘Technology Resource Partner’ for implementing projects related to manufacturing in India

Taking Indo-German ties a step ahead, the Union Cabinet has approved two new agreements that seek to enhance the bilateral cooperation in the areas of energy and capital goods. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between India’s department of heavy industries and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (Fraunhofer), Germany, an organisation of 65 institutes for applied industrial research in Europe. The agreement is aimed at providing a platform to various Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and capital goods sector units to have an easy access to capabilities and expertise of Fraunhofer for identifying and plugging technology gaps in line with 12th Five Year Plan, a government statement said. “Fraunhofer will be a ‘Technology Resource Partner’ for implementing of identified projects in manufacturing, in collaboration with various stakeholders in government of India, Industries and academia for increased cooperation and collaboration in applied industrial research and technology development.,” the statement said. The assistance offered by the German group is expected to fulfill the industrial technologies needed by the Indian capital goods sector. Meanwhile, the cabinet also gave its nod to another MoU singed between the two countries regarding the energy sector. The agreement signed in October this year was focused at expanding Indo-German bilateral development cooperation in the field of Solar energy by increasing use of solar energy in India through technical as well as financial cooperation. The MoU will ensure cooperation towards development of solar rooftops, development of solar parks, solar off-grid applications to improve the access to clean and sustainable energy. As part of the agreement, Germany will provide concessional loans in the range of one billion euros over the next five years through Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW). The funds of KfW will also be utilized for providing soft loans to the end-users through partner banks.

December 03, 2015 | 2:20pm IST

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The Dollar Business Bureau - Dec 03, 2015 09:12 IST

Cabinet approves Indo-German pacts on energy, capital goods sectors

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