Scania´s immediate and long-term plans for sustainable transport solutions in India
Anders Grundströmer, MD for Scania India, got a lot of attention for Scania´s immediate and long-term plans for sustainable transport solutions in India.
How can Scania and other Swedish companies be partners in India’s journey to inclusive sustainable growth? For two days this, and other issues, were discussed by the Swedish and Indian business communities, in the presence of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and ministers from both governments.
The main themes of the Indian official state visit to Sweden was innovation and sustainable development – with a focus on urban city development.
Current urbanisation trends will result in 70 percent of the Indian population living in cities by 2050, and given the increasing social and environmental challenges, it is imperative for India to learn how best to develop, govern and manage integrated and sustainable cities.
Nagpur pilot city
Last year the new Indian government launched an initiative to build “100 Smart Cities” all across India. The City of Nagpur, in the state of Maharashtra, has been appointed a pilot city for solutions to handle urban transport and mobility.
Scania´s bioethanol bus in Nagpur is the first one in India
As part of this pilot, Scania and Swedfund, the development financier of the Swedish state, will build a biogas plant in the city. The plant will produce biogas fuel from waste, and the biogas will be utilised to run city buses and other vehicles.
“Nagpur is our role model,” Anders Grundströmer, MD for Scania India, said in one of the Indian-Swedish seminars. “Interest in this complete sustainable transport solution is growing all over India. When it’s up and running next year other cities will come to visit and get inspiration.”
State-of-the-art solutions
Sweden is one of the pioneering countries when it comes to developing Smart Cities based on collaboration between private and public actors. Swedish companies offer state-of-the-art solutions for smart grids, traffic and transportation, waste and water management and “smart living”.
India and Sweden also have a long history of partnerships in various areas and there is a great potential to take this cooperation forward in the field of Smart Cities.
Anders Grundströmer, MD for Scania India, got a lot of attention for Scania´s immediate and long-term plans for sustainable transport solutions in India.
Anders Grundströmer, MD for Scania India, got a lot of attention for Scania´s immediate and long-term plans for sustainable transport solutions in India.
The Indian President, together with the Swedish King and Queen followed the main seminar, “Innovate, Make and Grow with India”. This seminar was opened by Anders Grundströmer underscoring why India constitutes such an important opportunity for Scania, and why Scania believes that it can contribute to making India more innovative and grow even stronger.
Sustainability – good business
“Scania has a long history of building sustainable transport solutions. And sustainable solutions are key to development, since it enables a society to leverage its resources and potential more efficient”, Mr Grundströmer said, and continued:
“Sustainability in the Indian context is increasingly developing as a business strategy. It is true on a macro level for a country. But it is also true for us as a company. We help our customers and our customers’ customers to make their operations and businesses more sustainable. We do that because society demands and expect that from us. But foremost we do it because it’s good business. Developing more efficient and cleaner engines, optimizing transport solutions, training drivers etcetera saves money.”
“Working in India, and leading the fastest expansion of any market in Scania’s 120 year history, it is evident to me that this resonates very well with the policies and ambitions of India today.”
At separate round-table discussions with the two Heads of State and ministers from booth governments, Anders Grundström had the opportunity to further elaborate on Scania´s global work with sustainable transport solutions.
