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The highly industrialised and free market economy of Finland is heavily dependant on the manufacturing sector as its mainstay. Its other major industries are metals, engineering, telecommunications and electronics.

Counted among one of the best performing economies within the European Union (EU) in recent years, Finland is a leading exporter of high tech goods in the international market. Its other primary exports include machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals and forestry products like timber, paper and pulp.

With Finland slowly emerging on the global scene as a net exporter of capital, the Indian business community, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), have intensified their efforts to establish linkages in the former’s market. In a bid to strengthen the commercial relations between the two countries, SMEs in both nations are also exploring potential areas to widen and deepen the trade basket.

India mainly exports RMG cotton, manufactures of metals, drugs & pharmaceuticals, coffee and transport equipments to Finland, while the latter’s export basket comprises electronic goods, computer software, iron & steel and paper board. Mutual trade and investment between the two countries has grown exponentially in the last four years with bilateral trade between them doubling to US$ 1165 million during 2007-08 from US$ 533 million in 2004-05.

There is tremendous scope for cooperation between the Indian and Finnish SMEs in the field of energy, environmental technology, forestry, Information Technology (IT), health, civil aviation, mechanical engineering,infrastructure, forestry,science & technology, pharmaceuticals, research & development (R&D) and tourism.

Indian firms in the sectors likefuels (power & oil refinery), electrical equipments, paper & pulp, telecommunications (radio paging, mobile telephone services) and services sector (financial and non financial services) can explore the possibility of forming alliances with their Finnish counterparts as their investment partners.Indian and Finnish enterprises can also collaborate in theIT, IT enabled Services (ITeS) and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) sectors for mutual gain.

Furthermore,there are ample textileopportunities in Finland, which Indian exporters can capitalise on to expand their footprint in the European market. There is a huge demand for bed linen, table linen and kitchen linen, wadding and textiles articles, non-wovens, impregnated, coated products, knitted and woven outwear, woven fabrics of synthetic filament yarn and MMF textile products in Finland.

Department stores, supermarkets, sports speciality shops and home shopping companies are some of the potential customers that Indian textile units can target in the Finnish market.

In view of the economic and political mileage that India and Finland can gain from a strategic alliance, both countries have stepped up their efforts to identify new business and investment avenues in each other’s geographies. Thus, while Indian enterprises can take advantage of the favourable business environment in Finland, Finnish firms can make the most of the investment opportunities which India presents.

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Source by David Parks