Bangalore: German Ambassador Bernd Muetzelburg, who visited the Metro Cash and Carry outlet at Yeshwantpur here on Friday, said the State Government had not fulfilled its promise to amend the Karnataka Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation) Act.

Mr. Muetzelburg told presspersons that the amendment sought was to facilitate the Metro outlets to sell agricultural produce, but the Government was yet to act on it.

Other countries

He said he would take up the issue with the Government. Countries such as China and Vietnam had supported Metro's business model, but India was yet to give permission, he said, noting that Metro's strength was the sale of agricultural products.

Metro had been a huge success in India, and in Bangalore itself there were over 80,000 customers and about 95 per cent of the products sold here was Indian.

Stating that "connecting farmers to Metro" was the goal, he said that presently, in India, the middleman enjoyed the lion's share in agricultural trade.

This could change as Metro had the capacity to buy directly from farmers, who would then get a better price for their produce.

Mr. Muetzelburg said similar Metro outlets would be established in Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad soon. Mentioning that his visit here was to build a strategic relationship between the two countries, he said he had exchanged views on business prospects and issues facing German companies in the State, which numbered over 20.

As for Indian companies investing in Germany, he said they would be most welcome.

Bilateral trade

Commenting on bilateral trade between the two countries, he said Indo-German trade would grow exponentially in the coming years.

He saw a rapid increase of German investments in India and said that nearly 300 million euros had been invested in the two Metro outlets in Bangalore.

Philips Electronics India Ltd. launched its range of `GoGear Portable Digital Audio MP3 Players' here on Friday.

The range provides wire-free USB transfer, adequate memory storage in the range of 512 MB to 1 GB, voice-recording facility and battery life of eight hours.

Philips aims to capture a market share of 10 per cent in the first year of the launch.

"In the next three years, we want to become a market leader with a share of 25 per cent.

We see the MP3 player market as a big emerging opportunity," Gunjan Srivastava, director, Entertainment Solutions, Consumer Electronics, Philips Electronics India Ltd. told presspersons here on Friday.

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