HELSINKI: The land of lakes, Santa Claus, sauna, and also mobile phones is ready to shake a leg, Bollywood style. Finland, the northernmost European nation, has warmly embraced Bollywood movies, songs and dances, with a good number of boys and girls taking lessons in such dances.

"Bollywood dances are liked by the youth here as they are a combination of traditional Indian and Western dances," says Jeanette Ohman, who works with a Finnish corporation. She is seconded by Katariina Bjorninen, who has been learning yoga for the past five years and Bollywood dance for one year.

Ms. Bjorninen has visited India, and her favourite dessert is the hot, syrupy, and lip-smacking gulab jamun.

Though Bollywood dances are becoming a rage among the youth here, Hindi movies are not being screened in city cinema halls.

"We have to rely on DVDs," says Ms. Bjorninen.

Nor have Bollywood directors and producers shown interest in shooting films in Finland, and they keep flocking to favourite London, Paris or Swiss locales. Clearly, what Nokia has done for Finland, Bollywood movies can do for India.

Promoting ties

The India-Finland Friendship Association is playing an active role in promoting ties — be it in culture, business or exchange visits of parliamentarians or academicians, says Unto Valpas, MP and chairman of the influential forum, which has 28 MPs as members. Mr. Valpas has another "active India link," his daughter having married a software engineer from Chennai.

"India is on everyone's lips," says Ole Johansson, president and chief executive officer of the engineering giant Wartsila Corporation, which set up shop in India two decades ago and has since consolidated its position. The Finnish firm manufactures generator sets and gearboxes for ships. Last year it set up nearly 200 captive power plants in India, which can generate about 3000 MW. "We have a very skilled profile in India. Basically, India has grown in the services sector, and IT design and development, and we, as a knowledge-based country, value our partnership with India, its business houses and people," says Mr. Johansson.

Fast growing market

Dubbing India one of the world's fastest growing markets, Jukka Ahtela, director, and Simo Karetie, chief policy adviser of the Confederation of Finnish Industries, say more than 70 companies have been established in the country. While Nokia employs about 3,000 people in India, Wartsila and Elcoteq have around a thousand each on their rolls.

Other major companies operating in India include UPM, Finnair, Kone and Andritz. Indian majors Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Infosys, Bluestar Infotech, Zensar Technologies and Tooltech have established a foothold in Finland. The total volume of trade between the countries till October 2006 touched nearly euro 400 million, showing a steady growth over the past decade.

Consultancy is available through "Invest in Finland," which promises to chart business graphs for companies keen on investing in Finland as it can provide easy access to European Union countries, and the Russian and Nordic market.

"Last year alone, we have had euro 100 million worth of Indian investments in Finland," says Tuomo Airaksinen, chief executive officer of the consulting company.

Mr. Airaksinen cites the recent acquisition by Wipro of Saraware, a 21-year-old Finnish company, for about euro 25 million last year. The Bangalore-based Sasken Communication Technologies acquired for euro 35 million Botnia Hightech Oy, a leading provider of wireless research and development and testing services.

Mobile phone giant Nokia, which clocked sales of euro 34,191 million in 2005 and expects to touch euro 40 billion in 2006, is upbeat over its India operations; its Chennai plant has hit the high growth graph. "India will become the world's second largest mobile device market in terms of volumes by 2010, and it is already the fourth largest market for us. India is adding five-six million mobile subscribers a month; this is phenomenal," Arja Suominen, vice-president, communications, at the Nokia headquarters here told visiting Indian journalists.

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