Finnish companies are struggling in TN due to rules on tender procedures, says a diplomat

Finland’s ambassador to India Kimmo Lähdevirta said on Tuesday that Finnish companies are “facing problems” in Tamil Nadu due to regulations preventing them from participating in tender processes. Contacts with senior journalists ” This Hindu at its headquarters in Chennai found certain regulations imposed by the state government restrictive.

When asked about the ease of doing business in Tamil Nadu, he said, “I would say it is mostly very good and that is why they (Finnish companies) have established themselves here. There were some problems regarding the possibility of participating in the tender procedure. There are regulations that require companies to be present here for about seven years before they can participate (in tenders), which I think is unfortunate because it limits the ability of Indian clients to find the best solutions. Apart from that, I would say that the overall experience here is quite good,” said the Ambassador.

Ambassador Lähdevirta said that there are already Finnish school education companies in India that are working to introduce “phenomenon-based learning”, which has been successfully carried out in pilot schools in the country.

“Cooperation between universities in all its aspects and research is one area. And certainly the third area is attracting Indian students to Finnish universities. Our society is aging, which is why we are trying to recruit knowledgeable people from abroad to cooperate with us. And I think India is certainly one of the key countries. We also have a program called “Talent Boost” through which we try to attract talent from India to Finland. I also want Finnish students to come to India because I have seen this place, like IIT-Madras, and I think Finnish students and experts will be able to learn a lot here,” he said.

Asked whether Nokia, a Finnish global brand whose mobile phones were hugely popular in India when mobile phones became affordable, could regain its position, Ambassador Lähdevirta said: “Nokia was the most important company in mobile phone manufacturing about 20 years ago . Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well when smartphones from Apple and other companies entered the market. However, I am glad that Nokia managed to move from making mobile phones to building networks. That he managed to take over, for example, Alcatel-Lucent and Siemens Networks and that he is very good at building radio, optical and other networks. And it is still one of the largest companies, if not the largest, in Finland.”

The ambassador added: “Last year they did a lot here, that is, they built 5G networks. I am very happy that Nokia has one of its key factories in Chennai, which supplies products not only to the Indian market but also to the global market. They have a very large R&D center in Bengaluru, so they are serious about India.”