The Hindu Business Line : 4 MoUs signed with Germany

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the German Chancellor, Ms Angela Merkel, today witnessed signing of four MoUs between Indian and German companies, including a $1-billion deal by Kingfisher Airlines with Airbus Industries for acquiring five A 340-500 long-haul aircraft.

The aircraft would be used for non-stop service between India and the US. The fresh deal with Airbus is in addition to aircraft already purchased by Kingfisher Airlines.

The Kingfisher Airlines Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Vijay Mallya, and the Airbus President and CEO, Mr Gustav Humbert, signed the agreement.

Mr Mallya said the aircraft are expected to be delivered in 2008 and would be deployed for non-stop flying to New York and San Francisco. "Until the new airport at Bangalore airport is ready, the planes would fly from Mumbai on these two sectors," he said, adding that the new aircraft would have a seating capacity of 226 seats with all classes, and the fares would be at a premium. Mr Mallya said the company would also look at starting operations to Germany but nothing has been planned as yet in this regard.

Force Motors pact

Force Motors also entered into a 70:30 joint venture agreement with Man Nutzfahrzeuge based in Munich to set up a production facility in Pithampura in Madhya Pradesh to manufacture buses, chassis and coaches for domestic as well as markets in Asia and Africa. The letter of intent was signed by Mr Abhay Firodia and Man's Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Anton Weinmann.

The tie-up would result in roll out of 4,000 bus chassis annually that would be doubled once exports pick up. Mr Firodia said the initial investment in the project would be around 100 million and another 300 million may be invested after expansion is carried out depending on the demand. Force Motors already has a tie-up with Man (Man Force Trucks Pvt Ltd) for production of trucks, which is expected to go on stream from April 30. Man Force Trucks would initially roll out 24,000 trucks to be sold domestic and export markets.

Co-operation in Rlys

The third MoU was signed between the Indian Railways and Deutsche Bahn for technical cooperation and joint development of railway equipment. Indian Railways is in talks with German firm Harting Mitronics for radio frequency identification-based (RFID) solutions for India railways' RFID-based wagon tracking project. "We have invited Harting to participate in the RFID-based wagon tracking pilot project that we are planning," said the Indian Railways Chairman, Mr J.P. Batra. Meanwhile, German Railways' CEO, Dr Hartmut Mehdorn, said he would be looking at possible areas of co-operation with Indian Railways in the containerised operations space as well as the port facilities. "We would be discussing possibilities for joint ventures with Indian Railways' in containerised operations as well as port facilities," said Mr Mehdorn.

ICMR in R&D tie-up

The fourth MoU was signed here between the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Helmholtz Association of National Centres for R&D collaboration in new generation technologies.

Meanwhile, Metro, the German retail chain said on Monday it is planning to open more outlets in India. "We can potentially invest 500 million in India," said Dr Hans Joachim Korber, CEO, Metro AG. He, however, sought further opening up of the sector. "We still can't sell fresh produce of fruits and vegetables in Karnataka," he said.