Swedish firms keen to raise India investments: Ambassador

Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Swedish counterpart Stefan Lofven jointly inaugurated the Sweden Country Pavilion at the Make in India Week (MIIW) here on Saturday and Stockholm said its companies are looking to increase their investments in Asia's third-largest economy.

Lofven is accompanied by a high-level delegation consisting of government officials, heads of agencies and industry leaders to participate in the 'Make in India' Week. The Scandinavian nation has one of the largest delegations at the jamboree. "Swedish industry has always believed in India as a perfect trading partner-right from the time Ericsson laid the first cables in 1903 to the current times when our companies are looking to raise their investments and their manufacturing units here," Swedish Ambassador to India Harald Sandberg said.

There are around 160 Swedish companies operating in the country employing 160,000 people directly and 1.1 million indirectly. Over 18 Swedish companies are participating in the mega event, where the theme of its pavilion is 'Smart Manufacturing'.

Some of the biggest Swedish participants include ABB, Atlas Copco, Camfil, Ericsson, Ikea, Saab, Sandvik, Scania, SKF, TetraPak and Volvo. Forty-five per cent of the Swedish companies directed their investments to Maharashtra and 85 per cent of them continue to invest in the State.

"For Sweden, which is striving to be an open innovation-driven economy, India is a natural partner and Maharashtra is one of the most important hubs," said Fredrika Ornbrant, Consul General of Sweden in Mumbai.

At the pavilion, the companies are displaying various innovations and products that they make in India and will also talk about how Sweden has been able to achieve its status as a high quality country through smart manufacturing.