Embassy of India
Madrid
(Commercial Wing)

INDIA-SPAIN ECONOMIC & COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

Economic and commercial relations between India and Spain have been growing steadily in the last few years.

2. Over the last few years, India-Spain bilateral trade has seen substantial growth. Bilateral trade statistics for the last few years are given below:

(Figures in US$ mn)

3. Main Indian exports to Spain include Consumer Goods (including garments, shoes, fabrics, leather items etc), Semi Manufactured goods, Food Products ( including marine products, fruits and vegetables), Capital Goods(including office and telecom equipment), Automotives(Automobiles and Bikes), Energy Products, Consumer Durables, Raw Materials etc.

4. Spanish exports to India are mainly Capital Goods(including Machinery), Semi Manufactured Goods(including Chemical Products), Automobile Products, Raw Materials(Ores and Minerals), Energy Products(Petrol, Derivatives), Food Products, Consumer Durables etc., Spain also exports electronics for Indian defence industry.

5. In order to give an impetus to trade and investment relations, India-Spain Joint Commission was set up under the 1972 Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement and has since met nine times. The 9th Session of the JEC was held in Madrid on 21st June 2010. Mr Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce and Industry from the Indian side and Mr. Miguel Sebastian, Minister for Industry, Tourism and Trade of Spain co-chaired the meetings, the first time that the Joint Commission has been held at Ministerial level. Views were exchanged on a range of issues including the economic situation and reforms carried out in both the countries; the Doha Development agenda; the forthcoming G-20 meeting; the EU-India free trade agreement; bilateral trade and investment flows; sectoral co-operation in the areas of renewable energy, infrastructure, tourism, agriculture, food processing , science and technology, banking, pharmaceuticals, information technology and tele- communications. Overall, it was felt that there is a lot of scope for raising the trade and investment levels between India and Spain. The importance of visits of bilateral trade delegations, chambers of commerce, frequent B2B contacts was underlined in addition to government to government contacts. The two sides agreed to have the next meeting of the Joint Economic Commission at New Delhi in 2012.

6. Joint Business Council (JBC) JBC was set up under 1983 Agreement between FICCI and the Spanish High Council of Chambers of Commerce (Consejo Superior). The first meeting was held in December 1984. The JBC meetings coincide with the Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation.

7. Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) has MoUs with ICEX (Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade), AENTEC (Spanish Association for New Technologies) and CEOE (Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations) for promoting bilateral economic and technical cooperation. ACMA (Indian Auto Components Manufacturers Association) has an agreement with its counterpart SERNAUTO. EXIM Bank also has an information sharing MoU with COFIDES (Spanish Company for Development Finance). PHD Chamber signed MoU with Madrid Chamber of Commerce and Industry in February 2001.

8. The major Indian companies with visible presence in Spain are in the automobile, information technology and pharmaceutical sectors. Tata group is present through TELCON (with the acquisition of 79 per cent controlling stake in Spain-based Serviplem SA at a cost of Euros 45 million); also in a partnership with Hispano Carrecera; Tata Consultancy Services; Tata Motors through the sale of Indica and Safari cars; after the Tatas acquired Jaguar and Landrover, they have now become part of Indian companies in Spain. Mahindra and Mahindra also have made their presence in Spain since Feb. 2002 with their tractors. Indian travel and tour agencies, Cox & Kings (India), Travel Corporation of India and Sita have their representatives in Barcelona. Suzlon has won contract for supplying wind turbines to Spain in early 2008, following which they established an office in Madrid. Apart from Dr.Reddys and Ranbaxy, Cadila Zydus bought a pharmaceutical plant of Combix and established themselves as Zydus Combix in Spain. The total Indian investment in Spain is € 692 million.

9. Nearly 70 Spanish companies have offices in India. The Spanish companies are in the renewable energy sector (Gamesa, Acciona); in water treatment(Abengoa, Acciona, Ferrovial); in the infrastructure sector (Isolux, OHL,CAF, Duro Felguera,FCC,ACS); in fashion (ZARA, El Corte Inglés(warehouse for sourcing material)); in sanitary ware(Roca) ; banks(BBVA; Banco Sabadell, La Caixa); information technology(Telvent, Indra). The total Spanish investment in India stands at USD 820 million.

10. A composite business delegation comprising members of CII, FICCI and Assocham, led by CII visited Spain coinciding with the State Visit of the Indian President, Ms. Pratibha Patil in April 2009. On 22nd April, the President addressed a gathering of Indian and Spanish businessmen and industry. While announcing our will to double the bilateral trade in the next five years, the President identified the following six areas for collaboration: (i) energy; (ii) agriculture; (iii) research and development; (iv) tourism; (v) small and medium enterprises; and (vi) co-operation with the Latin American countries. The President was accompanied by Minister of State for Commerce, Mr. Ashwani Kumar who also addressed the gathering and highlighted the strengths of the Indian economy and the opportunities for investment. The visit of the President of India was followed up by Ministerial and Secretary level visits and that of business delegations.

11. Prof. K.V. Thomas, Minister of State for Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution visited Spain from 13-17 September 2009. Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New and Renewable Energy, visited Spain from 18-22 May, 2010 at the invitation of Spain’s Minister for Tourism, Industry and Trade Mr. Miguel Sebastian. During the visit, Dr. Abdullah had a bilateral meeting with Mr. Sebastian and had interaction with the industry in renewable energy. Dr. Abdullah also visited solar power plants PS10/PS 20 near Sevilla and Andasol solar power plant near Granada in the autonomous region of Andalusia in South of Spain.

12. Mr. Anand Sharma, Minister for Commerce and Industry (CIM), visited Spain on 20-21 June 2010. CIM co-chaired the JEC meeting and held bilateral meetings with the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade and the second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economy and Finance, Spain, Ms. Elena Salgado and discussed matters of mutual interest. CIM addressed a session of Spanish CEOs including CEOs of major Spanish companies like Gamesa, Ficosa International, Taurus Group, Navantia, Ros Roca and Abengoa. CIM also addressed a special session of the Global India Business Meeting 2010 organised by Horasis and co-hosted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Casa-ASIA , an institution under the Spanish government , with ICEX and the municipality of Madrid. CIM spoke on the theme 'Connecting India with the World'.

13. Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, Mr. Sachin Pilot participated in the GSMA Mobile World Congress from 13th to 16th February 2011 in Barcelona.

14. Minister for Road Transport and Highways Dr. C. P. Joshi paid an official visit to Spain from 26-28 May, 2011. The Minister had a bilateral meeting with his Spanish counterpart, Mr. Jose Blanco Lopez, Minister for Public Works and Transport on 27 May 2011. Both sides discussed issues of bilateral cooperation in the roads sector including construction, transfer of technology & know-how, use of information technology in the roads sector, toll collection, road safety & reduction of accidents, use of environment-friendly material for construction of roads, etc. The Ministers expressed their commitment to finalize a Memorandum of Understanding which is under discussions early. The Minister also visited the M-30 tunnel, the Traffic Control Center and Intelligent Transport Systems. On May 28, 2011, the Minister visited one of the most modern Spanish tunnels in the north of Madrid (the Guadarama Tunnel).

15. Indian organizations like the Indian Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO), Council for Leather Exports (CLE), Apparel Export Promotion Organization (AEPC), Carpet Export Promotion Council (CEPC), and Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) have been actively participating and promoting Indian products in various trade fairs and exhibitions in Spain. They have also had B2B meetings with various Spanish companies to explore possibilities of co-operation. Also, apart from the delegations accompanying the President of the Madrid Region (November 2008), the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism of Spain (December 2008), Deputy Prime Minister of Spain (January 2009) and Prince Felipe (November 2009) , a number of business delegations have also visited India. These include a trade delegation of the CEOE (counterpart of CII in Spain ) ; Madrid Chambers of Commerce ; Spanish Institute for Promotion of External Trade (ICEX) and Tecniberia and from different Spanish regions.

August 2011