India will woo foreign investors with culinary skills at Hannover

NEW DELHI : India will lure foreign investment with finger-licking Indian cuisine at the biggest industrial fair in Hannover in Germany where 40 chefs from six hotel chains will introduce global visitors to delicacies such as dal bukhara, dum murgh biryani, shammi kebab and gulab jamun.

Besides, company heads from across the globe will take home a lesson or two in yoga, with some of India's top yoga instructors organising sessions at two-hour intervals at the five-day fair, themed around Make in India. India would leverage the platform to popularise Indian culture besides getting large-scale foreign investment into smart cities, industrial corridors and renewable energy. India is the partner country for Hannover Messe, 2015, which will be inaugurated jointly by Prime Minister ..

The CEO delegation from India will include Cyrus Mistry ( Tata Sons), Vishal Sikka ( InfosysBSE 2.62 %), Sanjiv Goenka ( RP Sanjiv-Goenka Group), TK Kurien ( WiproBSE -0.97 %), Ravi Uppal (Jindal Steel and Power), Arundhati Bhattacharya (SBI), AM Naik (L&T) and Baba Kalyani (Bharat Forge).

Manjit Gill of ITC, Hemant Oberoi of Taj and Ravitej Nath of Oberoi will be part of the team of chefs organising the food for the fair. Half of the food at the fair will be served by India, while the rest will be taken care of by the host country Germany.

"It is an industrial fair, but since India is a partner country, we would use the occasion to show our cultural strength through yoga. Indian cuisine is very famous across the world, and our team of top chefs from India will serve food from all corners of India," said a government official. EEPC India (formerly Engineering Export Promotion Council) is the lead agency for the fair.

While ITC will serve northern and central Indian cuisine, Taj will serve delicacies from the western and southern coasts, and Oberoi from the eastern coast. Marriot will serve desserts and Leela will deploy its support staff for the event. "The menu is still being worked out, but there will be a fair amount of sea food, tawa kebabs and lots of veggies, fruit lassis, etc. It would be one rare occasion where not one but six hotels chains will be collaborating to popularise Indian cuisine," said said Gautam Anand, who serves on the advisory board of Experience India Society.

Between the sessions, participants will get to attend yoga sessions at two-hour intervals, where they can learn simple yoga postures as well as breathing techniques.

"Since the PM is going, we will put up a big opening act, which will begin with yoga," said the official quoted earlier. A number of CEOs from top Indian companies will be participating in the fair, where 300 Indian state-run and private companies will be the exhibitors.

Besides the Indo-German Business Summit, India will host six seminars to highlight the initiatives of the Narendra Modi government and seek German investment and technology in sectors such as renewable energy, electronics, smart cities, heavy engineering and automation.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com