Closer collaboration in digital skilling, R&D to strengthen India-EU partnership: Industry Executives

Closer collaboration in areas like digital skilling, research and development and digital technologies can further strengthen India and the European Union (EU) partnership, top industry executives said on Saturday. Tata Consultancy Services Europe CEO Sapthagiri Chapalapalli said EU-India partnership in digitalisation can create a significant impact.
"The EU India relationship is built on solid ground, both sides are constantly discussing how to expand scientific and technological cooperation, and are natural partners in digital areas. TCS strongly supports EU policies on sustainability and digitalisation...," Chapalapalli said at the EU-India Business Roundtable organised by the CII.

He added that rescaling large workforces in Europe and building digital skills are two areas where India can play a significant role.

Chapalapalli outlined a number of initiatives being undertaken by TCS in training people on digital skills and engaging with academic institutions to build digital skills ground up.

Michelin President for Africa, India and Middle East Marc Pasquet highlighted implementation of better market access would be important.

Infineon Technologies AG Member of the Management Board and Chief Marketing Officer Helmut Gassel noted that a "transparent, open, non-discriminatory and predictable business environment" is what companies need.

"I think we need to make sure that there are no technical barriers to trade or we eliminate as many technical barriers to trade as we can, that we do not deviate from international standards and agreements as much as possible, that would be enabling a lot of additional trade between EU and India," he added.

Tech Mahindra Managing Director and CEO C P Gurnani said the company is committed to bringing together the best of Indian talent and European Union's brilliant academic research and development organisations.

"Based on our learnings, based on knowledge of the best practices, we together can create an open, free, stable, secure use cases whether they are in cybersecurity, AI...let's work on a few themes," he said.