Poland's Hon. Consul CR Raghu sees the great potential for investment in India

CR Raghu, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Poland in Bengaluru is optimistic about investment from Poland in the state and country in the areas of IT, BT, Education, Renewable Energy and Waste management.

Everyone is looking for renewable energy: Renewable gas energy is a big thing everyone is looking for. Our own Prime Minister is thinking, last week European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has also mentioned the same. Even our External Affairs Minister is speaking about it. In fact, the whole world is thinking on the subject so that the expenditure on fuels is reduced, he elaborates.

A series of accomplishments: Raghu Rajappa, a city-based industrialist with enough experience in the waste management area has become the Polish Honorary Consul about one and a half years back but has a list of accomplishments to his credit in the short period. For, he informs-“In the last one and a half years, I have contributed in the fields of education, trading, politics, the visit of Ambassadors. Recently, about three weeks back I have been honoured with the Medal of Honoy. Consular Corps Diplomatique-India in recognition of the work done so far”.

Rescue of students from Ukraine: He also says-“The latest work I have been associated as being involved in the rescue operations of Indian students stranded in the war-torn Ukraine regions. That herculean task was made possible in coordination and cooperation with the authorities of the Government of Karnataka, the Government of India, and the Ministry of External Affairs. In fact, we helped many students to reach Warsaw and many other cities of Poland on the way back to India”.

MoU with Bengaluru University: “Now, we are in the process of having an MoU between Bengaluru University and the University of Warsaw, which happens to be one of the oldest varsities in Europe. We started the process about two years back and the efforts have paved the way with both universities agreeing to the modalities of the MoU. The MoU provides for the students' exchange program, Professor training and Professor exchange. There’s a likelihood of another MoU in Political Science as the University of Warsaw is also well-known in Political Science just like Bengaluru University. There will be a lot of exchanges in the areas of knowledge, involvement in international projects and things like that”, informs CR Raghu.

Billion-dollar Polish company in Bengaluru: “Government of Karnataka had an MoU in business cooperation in 2016, wherein I was a coordinator. There are 3-4 Poland companies in Bengaluru. One is TZMO, a leading sanitary pads manufacturer and a billion-dollar company having Bengaluru as its head office. There’s also a waste management company and another which deals with interior decorations…

…Biggest Infosys campus in Poland: Infosys has its biggest campus, other than Bengaluru in Poland having more than 3,000 employees. They also have offices in five cities. In that way, Infosys is the biggest IT Company in Poland. Wipro and TCS also have their establishments, but Infosys happens to be the biggest one. A good lot of Polish people are also here because of the Infosys. There is also an association called “Kannadigas in Poland” while more than 300 Kannadiga families are living in Poland. Those were the people who helped us in evacuating the students stranded in Ukraine. A good lot of volunteers helped us in rescuing the students, for some of them lived near the borders adjoining Ukraine”, he told.

6,000 students evacuated: On the number of Indian students being brought back, CR Raghu informed-“In all, there were about 30,000 Indian students in Ukraine. However, 10 days after the beginning of the war, most of them returned. Among the remaining 6,000 students, about 2,500 or so were from the state. Then we had formed a group to communicate late in the evening until 2 AM also. Y Bhaskar Rao, a former IPS officer from the state was there physically overseeing the rescue operations. He also helped us a lot from the police side. Many Indian people from Italy residing at the borders also helped us. They all came to Poland and assisted in the rescue operations, it was really an amazing experience”.

Ambassador sitting at the Polish borders: Nagma M Mallick, Indian Ambassador to Poland was literally sitting in the borders to help out the fleeing students. She is from Kasargod. Perhaps she didn’t sleep for more than 15 days for being on duty at the borders. The Ambassador has done a great job. Polish authorities also helped a lot. There were Russian soldiers on one side, Ukrainian soldiers on another side, and Western soldiers on the other side. Ukrainian soldiers were not letting out anyone other than people above 60 years as they wanted all others to go back and fight for the country. At the same time, they were not allowing the Indian students to crossover either; many students were inside the Buses for more than 14/15 hours for not being able to cross the Ukraine borders, recalled CR Raghu.

-Manohar Yadavatti