Embassy of India

Prague

***

Economic and Commercial  relations between India and the Czech Republic

1. Trade ties between India and the Czech Republic, formerly Czechoslovakia, preceded India's independence. Czechoslovakia established its consulate in Mumbai in October 1920 and in Calcutta in December 1929.

2. The famous Czech shoe company Bata, which started its operations in Batanagar (West Bengal) in the 1930s, is one of the most popular Czech brands in India. While Škoda is currently a well-known Czech brand in the automotive industry, Czech Jawa and Yezdi motorcycles were also popular in the 1960s. Due to this popularity, Indian car giants Mahindra and Mahindra have successfully revived the Jawa brand. Jawa motorcycles made in India are exported to the Czech Republic.

3. During the communist era, Czech companies launched a number of important industrial projects in India in the fields of energy, metallurgy, machine tools and transport; by 1990, they had approximately 60 large projects in India. Some of these Czech companies continue to work on projects in the heavy engineering sector in India.A Czech Industrial Cluster has been set up in Bengaluru in December, 2018 to

facilitate trade and investment.

4. The Czech policy of trade diversification outside the EU has given new impetus to Indo-Czech bilateral trade and economic relations. New mechanisms and diversified interaction thereafter resulted in revival of bilateral trade to more than US $ 4.19 billion, from just US $ 86 million in 1993 as per Czech statistics. 

Main Indian products exported to the Czech Republic:

1.Smartphones for wireless networks

2.Medicaments consisting of mixed or unmixed products for therapeutic or prophylactic purposes, put up in measured doses "incl. those in the form of transdermal administration" or in forms or packings for retail sale, n.e.s.

3.Machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images or other data, incl. switching and routing apparatus (excl. telephone sets, telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks)

4.Medicaments containing corticosteroid hormones, their derivatives or structural analogues but not antibiotics, put up in measured doses "incl. those in the form of transdermal administration" or in forms or packings for retail sale

5.Spring, air or gas guns and pistols, truncheons and other non-firearms (excl. swords, cutlasses, bayonettes and similar arms of heading 9307)

Main Czech products imported to India:

1.Reciprocating positive displacement pumps for liquids, power-driven (excl. those of subheading 8413.11 and 8413,19, fuel, lubricating or cooling medium pumps for internal combustion piston engine and concrete pumps)

2.Gear boxes and parts thereof, for tractors, motor vehicles for the transport of 10+ persons, motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons and goods and special purpose motor vehicles, n.e.s.

3.Fuel, lubricating or cooling medium pumps for internal combustion piston engine

4.Parts suitable for use solely or principally with spark-ignition internal combustion piston engine, n.e.s.

5.Spark-ignition reciprocating piston engine, of a kind used for vehicles of chapter 87, of a cylinder capacity > 1.000 cm?

5. Institutional cooperation

a) Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation: The first meeting of the Indo-Czech Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation (JCEC) took place in New Delhi in November 2010. The JCEC has been meeting regularly since then, with the 12th  meeting taking place in December 2023 in New Delhi.  

b) JWG for Heavy Engineering: During the 9th meeting of the Joint Economic Commission in 2012, both parties agreed to reactivate the JWG Joint Working Group on Heavy Engineering. The first meeting of the JWG took place in Mumbai on 15 March 2013 and the JWG has met regularly since then. The 6th JWG Heavy Engineering Meeting was held in Brno in October 2019 as part of the International Engineering Fair in Brno. Currently a proposal to replace Heavy Engineering with Innovative Industries is under discussion.

Bilateral investments:

6. Almost 7%(7.645 in 2024)of Czech investments outside Europe go to India. More than 30 Czech companies have invested in India, including Škoda Auto, Doosan Škoda Power, Bonatrans, Home Credit, Liko-s, Tatra trucks, Zetor, DINA-HITEX spol. s r.o.,in various sectors such as transport, energy, automotive, metallurgy and finance. In 2021, Skoda Auto launched two new models in India – Kushaq and Slavia, Volkswagen followed with the launch of Taigun and Virtus.  These 2 models Kushaq and Slavia were updated in April 2024, enhancing safety features.  As a part of investment initiatives of Volkswagen group the new investment (India 2.5) will introduce small city-centric electric car that will be produced in India built using locally procured parts.

7. Indian companies have invested in the Czech Republic in sectors such as IT, electronics, telecommunication, textile industry, pharmaceuticals, automotive components, food industry. Major Indian companies that have invested in the Czech Republic include Infosys, APAG Elektronik, Varroc Lightning systems,  Glenmark Pharmaceuticals,  Mileta International, MSSL Advanced Polymers, RR Enterprises, StartupBay ,MacroCosmos Creations Pvt. Ltd., Zatisi Group, City Law Practice ,Veeprho Pharmaceuticals,

Parvel Farmaceutica ,Tata Consultancy Services (Branch of Netherland), Svaggy and cloudeventix solutions 

Commercial Representative:

Mr. Abhijit Chakraborty

Minister

Tel: +420 257 533 490, +420 257 107 019

E-mail:  fspol.prague@mea.gov.in, com2.prague@mea.gov.in 

May 2025