Lene Espersen, the minister for foreign affairs, Denmark accompanied by a high level business delegation is visiting India from December 14 to 16 to build relationship with India in the life sciences and cleantech ie renewable energies sector. The minister will have high level meetings with the Government of India to discuss about having increased trade partnership between India and Denmark in the life sciences sector in the near future. It is expected that this visit will pave way to signing of MoU's between both the counties. The business delegation encompasses companies within the environment, life sciences and energy sector from Denmark and comprises of high ranking officials from these leading Danish companies.
According to Pramila Das, investment manager - Lifesciences, Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two day visit is expected to increase the business relation between both the countries. “Denmark offers a lot of business opportunities to foreign (Indian) companies but unfortunately it yet not publicised enough. The Minister's visit is to sensitise the Indian govt and the companies about the opportunities that Denmark's Life Science cluster provides to the expat companies ”
She informed that Denmark offers a unique business model called as Danish flexicurity model to all the expat companies within the country. She explained that under this system the Danish government offers highest flexibility for the expat company in terms of the labour laws , office setups and exit policies. Under this model, the social security paid for the employee is very nominal unlike big social security components in other countries.
She informed that Denmark offers 40 to 45% cheaper rates for research in oncology, drug discovery etc. that still needs to be tapped from the Indian companies. “Denmark provides a very attractive business opportunity for the foreign companies. We provide 25% flat corporate tax to companies interested in doing business in Denmark which is less than what any other countries in EU provides. However there is lack of awareness about these incentives in India. We want Indian companies from the life sciences sector to come to Denmark, setup in the second largest Life Science cluster ie the Medicon Valley and utilise these facilities that the government is providing for the expat companies.”
As of now, there are about 20 life sciences companies actively doing business in Denmark which includes pharma cos, CRO's, biotech companies whereas, five companies have their registered offices in Denmark which includes Hikal, Aurobindo Pharma and Bioplus to name a few. With this meeting the Danish government hopes to increase the statistics of presence Indian companies in Denmark to a higher level.