Exclusive for Poland India

Author: Bharat Jagwani, Veepeeglobal Advisors

Basing on my experience of living and working in Poland – I think Poland is very friendly to foreigners, my personal experience has been very satisfying throughout the 15 year, that I lived and worked in my “second home”. The people on one side hold strongly to their tradition, values and language, while on the other side, aspire to be a part of the “developed  economies of Europe and adopt capitalism culture” .

The economy is one of the best performing one in the EU. I think it’s one of the most aggressive economies in the CEE region. After Poland joined the EU in 2004, a number of businesses have expanded and sustained both in the neighboring as well as the western Economies.

The laws are very well defined and the most important, are implemented well. Businesses are less regulated and corporate governance is ensured by the local authorities.

India on the other hand is a very large Economy and the point of interest for any investor or business. It offers on one side a large internal market and on the other side a strong manufacturing base.
Although clarity of law and corporate governance is a challenge till today, a number of companies have implemented strong corporate culture and have become MNC’s with presence across the globe, expanding both organically and inorganically. India also offers a large pool of young, skilled workers across various industries. Since India lacks a strong Infrastructure, there has been huge investments into the segment and a lot of opportunities could be capitalized in this space.

The strongest synergy between Indian and Polish companies as I see is:

For Polish companies, India could offer a new market for their products, which could attract a premium, due to the excellence in product quality and design. Due to rising labor cost and EU’s Environmental restrictions in Poland, companies could shift the manufacturing to India to target their home market as well as a large South Asian Market. Poland can offer technology transfer and know how to a number of Indian companies, planning to enter new product segment. It could also offer opportunities to Indian companies to expand into Europe by offering the local businesses for take over/ mergers or even Joint Ventures.

Poland could be a great gateway for India to access the EU market, as in comparison to the Western European countries , it still offers reasonably lower costs base and a large pool of skilled workers being churned out by its renowned Universities.