Eyes on India-Austria economic ties as Modi visits Vienna tomorrow, first in 41 years

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Vienna on Tuesday, July 9, where he will be spending two days during which he will call on the president of Austria and hold restricted, delegation-level talks as well as meet with Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

Modi’s trip to Austria is historic as it marks the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the country in 41 years after Indira Gandhi.  

PM Modi’s decision to include Austria in his first bilateral foreign trip in his third term in office speaks volumes about the importance he places on firming up diplomatic ties with the European nation.

During his visit, PM Modi said he looks forward to discussing “strengthening the bonds” between India and Austria as well as exploring new avenues of cooperation.  

PM Modi also said that his visit to Austria a “historic occasion” as it coincides with 75 years of establishing bilateral diplomatic relations between both the countries.

The visit of Prime Minister Modi is expected to give a boost to India-Austria ties.  

Talking about bilateral ties, the India-Austria Startup Bridge was launched this year in February with an aim to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing between startups in both the countries.  

What is India-Austria Startup Bridge?

Last week, India’s Foreign Secretary, Vinay Kwatra, said that the India-Austria Startup Bridge, launched during Austrian Minister for Labour and Economy Martin Martin Kocher’ visit to New Delhi, “has already had a very promising start."

The India-Austria Startup Bridge is a collaborative initiative focused at fostering connections and collaboration between the vibrant startup ecosystem of both the countries.

Also Read: Modi to be first Indian PM to visit Vienna in 41 years: A look at India-Austria ties

“In June, about 20 Indian startups visited Vienna for a very big event,” Foreign Secretary (West), Pavan Kapoor, informed last week.

The aim of the India-Austria Startup Bridge is to facilitate connections between startups in the two countries with investors, partners and mentors, it also aims to promote exchange of knowledge as well as best practices.  

This also aims to provide access to new markets to the startups from both India and Austria as well as encourage joint ventures and co-creation ventures between them.  

India and Austria have a start-up bridge aimed at innovation, especially tech innovation. What does Austria offer for tech ties between the two countries to blossom?

How India-Austria Startup Bridge is benefitting the two countries

According to Jajati Mohanty, CEO, Schiebel India, Austrian companies bring with them a plethora of knowledge related to high precision manufacturing and optimal integration which gets further enhanced through obsolescence management over its life cycle. “This knowledge, if leveraged with the skills and the growing technological sector in India, would provide a rich harvest in advanced engineering products which can be suitably integrated into different industrial applications like space, aerospace, defence and cyber security,” he said.    

“One good example here is the Camcopter S-100 rotary unmanned aerial system which Schiebel Aircraft GmbH is implementing along with VEM Technologies as its production partner and the complete process of licensed production followed by setting up of the MRO for life cycle management,” Jajati Mohanty further said.

In an interview with The Economic Times in February this year, Kocher said Austria has been increasingly targeting South and South East Asia with India topping the list to export its products including machinery, chemical and pharmaceutical products, automobile related items.

“Austria is focusing on South Asian and SE Asian markets in a big way since the Russian market has been closed following the war. India is of special interest to Austria given its complementarities in the field of economy. Austria also serves as the gateway to the German speaking markets of Europe,” the Austrian minister was quoted as saying.

Kocher had highlighted that Austria, one of the richest countries in the European Union, is also becoming an attractive destination for the Indian Film industry to shoot movies as good incentives are being provided.

India-Austria economic ties

India and Austria economic ties have been robust with more than 30 to 40 large Austrian companies already established in India across various sectors such as infrastructure, tunnelling, and track laying.

  Also, both the countries have been keen on exploring collaboration in key areas including clean technologies and renewables, with Indian businesses looking to learn from Austrian expertise in these sectors.

According to MEA, the bilateral trade between India and Russia has seen a sharp increase in 2023-24 and has since touched close to $65 billion, primarily due to strong energy cooperation between both the nations. With Indian exports of $4 billion and Indian imports being close to $60 billion, trade remains imbalanced, which is a matter of priority in our discussions with the Russian side.

With inputs from agencies