Berlin, (IANS) : The Make in India Mittelstand (MIIM) investment facilitation programme launched by the Indian embassy here has so far mobilized investment of about euro 650 million and helping create 4,000 employment opportunities in India, an official statement said.

The programme is currently facilitating 72 German SMEs (Mittelstand) in their market entry into India. A total of 41 German companies out of the 72 are currently at advanced stage of their investment into India. The results of the MIIM programme were presented during the Third Exchange Platform organized at the Embassy of India, Berlin, an Indian embassy statement said.

During the event, the German government lauded the Make in India Mittelstand (MIIM) programme as an extraordinary initiative towards Indo-German business relations and termed it a perfect addition to efforts of their governments towards facilitation of German companies investing in India.

Speaking at the Third Make in India Mittelstand (MIIM) Exchange Platform, Uwe Beckmeyer, Parliamentary State secretary, Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Energy, applauded the success of the MIIM initiative in facilitating investment by German SMEs into India and expressed full support of the German government to the Make in India Mittelstand Programme, the statement said.

The MIIM program is an investment facilitation programme launched in September 2015 by the Embassy of India to facilitate investments by German Mittelstand (SME) companies. It is being run with support of Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) and other central and state agencies, the statement said.

Beckmeyer said that the initiatives like these have been strong reflection of the Indian government’s continued efforts towards creating a business friendly environment for German companies in India. Referring to the upcoming Indo-German Inter-Governmental Consultations in May 2017, Beckmeyer highlighted the need to send strong message jointly for strong democracy, rule of law and free trade.

India Ambassador Gurjit Singh called upon the German Industry to take up consortium based approach to fully participate and take advantage of the huge opportunities in several key sector of Indian economy like Railways, Infrastructure, Smart Cities, Civil Aviation, Port development, etc.