Ireland EU’s only English speaking country provides huge opportunity for Indian investors: Trade Minister

Ireland is only the English speaking country in the European Union and this provides a huge opportunity for the Indian investors who are already increasing their footprints in the country, Robert Troy, Irish Minister of State Trade Promotion, Digital, and Company Regulation, has told ET.
India-Ireland bi-lateral trade has trebled in the last decade (now at Euro 5.5bn), according to Troy who was on a week-long visit to India. “Ireland is also place for Research and development and Indian life sciences company should take full advantage of that,” the Minister pointed out.

Ireland’s economy proved resilient amidst the pandemic. It was the only EU economy to grow in 2020 (+3.4%) and one of the only four economies globally, the Minister claimed. Ireland is now transitioning towards a decarbonised and digital economy

Troy further informed that Ireland is a low tax economy and aims to maintain 12.5% for companies with revenue below USD 750mn. For firms with global revenues over USD 750mn, Ireland looks to align corporate tax rate with a global minimum of 15% as per the OECD agreement

About 80 Indian companies operate in Ireland. IDA Ireland supports 35 of these companies that employ over 5,000 people in Ireland. The top 5 Indian IT service companies which are TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra & HCL have operations in Ireland. These companies have now moved focussed to value creation (Centres of Excellence or R&D centres) Indian Lifesciences companies in Ireland include Wockhardt and Unichem

Mid-sized companies like NIIT, BrowserStack, SMT, Deepak Fasteners amongst others also have a presence in Ireland. JLR has a large software engineering centre in Ireland (focussed on future mobility). IDA Ireland team in India is constantly engaging with Indian companies in the above-mentioned sectors for their establishment and expansion in Ireland

Ireland is ranked fourth most competitive economy in the EU and the 12th in the world (EuroStat 2020).

Troy also visited Mumbai to officially open Ireland House. The opening of the Ireland House in Mumbai comes under the ambit of Global Ireland 2025 strategy, creating a great opportunity to harness business in this key commercial and cultural hub in Asia. Establishing a presence in Mumbai is a priority for the Irish government and its state agencies as it will promote Ireland’s trade and investment interests in the commercial capital of the world’s second-most populous and fastest-growing economy.