Quality Infrastructure: India - Germany Economic Relation - Aspirant Learning

As part of improving India – Germany Economic relations, a two-day event on Quality Infrastructure was organised.

Joint efforts of India and Germany are necessary to improve product quality and safety as per: Secretary, Consumer Affairs Ministry.

Quality infrastructure is a system that covers everything needed to ensure safe, high-quality products and services from standardisation, conformity assessment (testing, inspection, and certification), and accreditation to metrology and market surveillance.
It is important for business, innovation, and trade – both nationally and across borders.
Importance
- They reduce time, cost, and business uncertainty for companies as well as ensure consumer safety.

Event Organised by – The Department of Consumer Affairs and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).
Points Highlighted by Indian Side
- Importance of India – German partnership emphasized with Indian Prime Minister’s G7 visit.
- Importance of consumer protection through standards and certification processes.
- Joint efforts are necessary to improve product quality and safety, such as through the various technical exchanges during QI days.
- Future Focus Areas – Artificial intelligence, smart farming, and circular economy
Points Highlighted by the German Side
- Importance of the bilateral cooperation on quality infrastructure
- Indo-German QI-Days provided an important platform for dialogues to share information and expertise on issues of mutual interest to support bilateral trade and economic activities.
- Underlined the strategic partnership between Germany and India for innovation, digital and green transformation.

Indo-German Working Group on Quality Infrastructure for trade, product safety, and consumer protection provide an excellent opportunity to the experts from both sides.
It aims to improve the mutual understanding of the German and Indian approaches to quality infrastructure (QI).

Held parallel to the event.
Both sides discuss how they can work together to improve the ease of doing business as well as the involvement of the relevant stakeholders in technical regulation.
It also aims to improve the preparedness of the industry for upcoming regulatory changes.
It intends to enhance the effectiveness of regulations through the exchange of approaches to technical regulation as well as good regulatory practices.

Standardisation bodies will discuss approaches and criteria for emerging topics, such as
- Artificial Intelligence
- Electromobility
- Circular economy
- Hydrogen and smart agriculture.

The forum was established in 2019
It enables both countries to collaborate on issues of mutual interest that are relevant to the standard bodies, industry as well as consumers.
Indo-German experts will also discuss the role of standardisation roadmaps and the integration of research in standard development processes.

It will discuss the role of QI in enabling and supporting the ecological transformation of economies at the national and international policy levels.
The experts emphasized the role of standards and certification in the transition to a circular economy across different sectors.

Germany is India’s top trading partner in Europe, accounting for 17.4 percent of the European market.
Since 2000, Germany has been India’s seventh-largest foreign direct investor.
Since 2016, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Commerce (DPIIT) has operated a Fast-Track System for German enterprises to facilitate trade.
In 2019, India and Germany inked a Joint Statement to establish a Fast-Track framework in Germany for Indian companies.
The Make in India Mittelstand (MIIM) program is run by the Embassy of India in Berlin to help German Mittelstand (Medium Sized Companies) enter India.
Germany’s financial aid is mostly in the form of soft loans, composite loans, or grants, all channeled through the German Development Bank.
Major Projects
- Energy (renewables, Green Energy Corridor)
- Indo-German Solar Partnership
- Skill Development
- Sustainable Urban Development (water/sanitation/waste, climate-friendly urban mobility, smart cities).

Pic Courtesy: Economic Times

Content Source: PIB

Quality Infrastructure: India – Germany Economic Relation