First seminar of the India Table of the Industrieele Groote Club
The historic environs of the Industrieele Groote Club in Amsterdam took up a distinctly Indian flavour on 25th January, just a day before India’s 60th Republic Day as the Ambassador of The Netherlands to India, Mr Bob Hiensch spoke about the opportunities that India offers Dutch businesses.

On 25 January 2010, the India Table of the Industrieele Groote Club held its first seminar on the subject “Riding the elephant: Leveraging business opportunities in India”. His Excellency Mr. Bob Hiensch, Ambassador of the Netherlands to India was the guest speaker at the event and he spoke his mind about the opportunities tat India presents for Dutch companies and entrepreneurs. He also discussed what support is available to interested organisations from the Netherlands government to support trade activities with India. Mr. Hiensch gave the audience a comprehensive overview of India with all its complexities and opportunities. He spoke about the enormous diversity of the country and the unshakeable commitment nevertheless, to democratic values. Mr. Hiensch talked about the strong focus of the Indian government on improving infrastructure and on improving living standards of the disadvantaged, especially in rural areas. The Netherlands is one of the largest investors in India, but in absolute terms the volume of trade still has a tremendous potential to grow. Specific competencies of the Netherlands were much sought after in India, given its development goals, such as logistics, infrastructure, food processing, and water management. The Netherlands Embassy has invested in a number of support organisations to help Dutch entrepreneurs build their presence in India. Mr. Hiensch urged the audience to make use of the support available and stressed that when doing business in India monitoring and control was advisable. Mr. Boet Kreiken, CEO of KLM Cityhopper and board member of the India Table also spoke on the occasion. He described his positive experiences with Indian IT services providers such as Tata Consultancy Services. Mr. Gopal Ramanathan, Chairman of High Growth Markets Practice at KPMG and Chairman of the India Table presided over the event. The India Table was initiated last year at the historic Industrieele Groote Club by Tata Consultancy Services, ING, Corus, KLM and KPMG, with an intention to focus attention on business opportunities in India. The launch event of the India Table coincided with the annual event of the IGC and the entire event was given a India theme. The event was attended by over 350 people and included several Indian cultural programmes. The launch of the India Table was held on Gandhi Jayanti and the guest of honour Mr. Eric Niehe, former Netherlands ambassador to India spoke on the relevance of Gandhi’s legacy today. The Industrieele Groote Club (IGC, www.igc.nl) is one of the oldest and best-known business clubs in the Netherlands, its origins dating back to 1788. Supported by important entrepreneurs through its history and housed in a monumental building on the Dam Square, the club holds a formidable position for Indo-Dutch business relations.