Face2Face
From this summer onwards, I’ve been working for the economic and commercial department of the Netherlands Embassy in New Delhi. Our main purpose is to support Dutch businesses that want to come to India for trading or investing. For companies looking to doing business in India, we offer them support in terms of information, our network and advice on how to proceed. In my previous ‘life’ I have worked for the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation in The Hague. I worked at the department of foreign economic relations and was involved in developing trade and investment policies and organizing trade missions to Central Asia and Poland.

I enjoy making the connection between Indian and Dutch companies when it comes to creating awareness and enabling trade and investment. Dutch companies have a lot to offer, the Indian market however is challenging and quite distant to most Dutch companies. It is our role to form a linking pin between them.

India is a truly beautiful country with very friendly people. Even after being here for months already, it still is a delight to walk and drive around. To see the activities in the streets, the people, the colors and of course the dynamics of an economy on the rise! I have been to India as a student for a couple of months ten years ago. I couldn’t recognize the country.

I think a lot of good work has already been done and is being done every day by the entire organization in India and The Netherlands. We will continue this good work and create more awareness among Dutch and Indian companies of the interesting possibilities that will occur when they work together or do business with each other. And it is especially in this role that the Embassy and the other offices in India and The Netherlands can create a lot of added value for the entrepreneurs wanting to do business in India and The Netherlands.

Jeroen Vlutters
First Secretary
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Delhi

TomTom is a global leader in GPS navigation and digital mapping. TomTom is the only company in the world exclusively dedicated to bringing the best navigation experience to drivers all around the world. This is achieved through every part of our group whether through the highest quality of map making, through the design of dedicated GPS navigation devices, through the creation of mobile based navigation application and even through state of the art fleet management products.

In the 20 years of our existence TomTom has always been fueled by innovation literally creating new product categories and significantly raised the expectation of every driver using GPS navigation today.

Starting operations in India
Growth is always a tricky subject and the decisions around entering new markets always need to be thought about carefully. We did identify India as a potential growth area for some time but last year all seemed to converge. The economy is showing some strong sustained growth, the car market (closely related to our business) is going through a rather dramatic mutation and the consumer electronic category is growing at a really fast pace. If you weigh all of these elements and map it with our aspiration as a business we believed that it was very judicious to enter India in a big way.

Furthermore our ability to create a higher quality map of the region, thanks to our global scale and processes was also an important factor as we believe that between the growth of the economy and our ability to bring cutting edge products would certainly bring TomTom a serious basis to be successful in the region.

Role of the Netherlands Embassy in New Delhi to help achieve our goal The embassy has already helped the company in introducing TATA motors through one of the trade missions headed by Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen, early this year. I believe that there is more that we can do in order to help the progress made in the region lending some help in navigating some of the governmental issues.

Scope of your India operations
We have chosen to run all of our businesses locally; therefore the scope of the business in India is really broad. As mentioned earlier we have a large workforce collecting geographical data and creating mapping products, we are building a complete local Personal Navigation team whose responsibility spans from product localization to marketing and sales with a big emphasis on customer support. We are also targeting car manufacturers, local companies like TATA or Mahindra and foreign car manufacturers like Renault or Hyundai as one of our core competency is to advise these companies in creating built-in infotainment platform.

Future plans
Creating a long term sustainable business in India is certainly on the top of the priorities and doing so with a very strong local team that is responsible to manage and make decisions for the market.

Jocelyn Vigreux
General Manager - SVP , TomTom, India

Highlights
1.	Opening of TERI in Utecht with the Princess Maxima Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of The Netherlands officially opened the European head office of the globally renowned Indian research institute TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) in Utrecht. In addition to exchanging scientific knowledge in the field of sustainable development and energy, the European head office of TERI will also concentrate on promoting partnerships and activities involving European and Asian businesses and institutions. The arrival of TERI’s European head office in the Utrecht Science Park will further enhance the sustainability profile of Utrecht University, Utrecht Science Park and the entire Utrecht region. Read more
2.	Mission FIER Interesting and a constructive mission in the sphere of the automotive branch. Around 12 companies visited Delhi, Gurgaon, Pune and Chennai. The facilitation is expected to lead to the signing of the PSV-AIFA cooperation. Read more

Date		Activity
6-7 Jan 2012		The North East Business Summit is a joint venture of the Ministry of DoNER, Govt. of India & the Indian Chamber of Commerce, to showcase the strengths of the North Eastern Region and to present significant business opportunities.
11-13 Jan		The Partnership Summit 2012, themed 'New Age Innovation Partnerships', would be the platform for exploring the various facets of innovation that can drive future global growth and the roles that India can play in fostering and strengthening the forces of such innovation. To be held in the progressive city of Hyderabad, it would highlight the cutting edge technologies currently emerging out of India and build new partnerships for evolving and dispersing innovation.
17-21 Jan		The first ever event of week-long conferences, dialogues, exhibitions and social events reflecting the ability of India as a global maritime destination.
29th Jan-4th Feb		To explore business opportunities De Koninklijke Metaalunie and FME-CWM are organizing a Trade Mission to India in cooperation with NexusNovus for Dutch companies active in the metal industry and eager to enter the Indian market. The event will take place the 29th of January until the 4th of February 2012 in Mumbai & Bangalore.
9-11 Feb		Under the over arching theme of "Optimizing Opportunities", BioAsia 2012 will unfold as the widest and the most dynamic global forum on Life Sciences and Biotechnology.
18-25 Feb		Horticulture and Agro Tech mission to India is planned
20-25 Feb		Elderman Baljeu (Rotterdam & port Rotterdam) visit is expected

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