Column | In 2016, Juha Sipilä met two billionaires in India – Soon Pori’s heart was sold to Mumbai

I read recently the news about India, which also concerned Pori. It was reported that the large Indian company Mahindra has bought the entire stock of the traditional combine harvester company from Pori, Sampo-Rosenlew.

The news reminded me of February 2016, when I got to the unforgettable to the gig: Prime Minister from Kempel Juha Sipilä (Centre) pulled an export promotion trip for Finnish companies to Mumbai, India.

One of the high-level meetings was at a luxury hotel in Trident.

I was waiting for the elevator in the lobby of the Trident and I realized that India’s greatest oligarch was whizzing past me, Mukesh Ambaniand another prominent oligarch, Anand Mahindra. They are cartridges that are impossible to get close to under normal conditions. According to the Forbes business magazine, Ambani is the eighth richest person in the world, and Mahindra is also a billionaire.

Ambani and Mahindra had wanted to meet Prime Minister Sipilä in the Trident cabinet. There, Mahindra pulled a prank on Sipilä. The oligarch had found out that Sipilä – an engineer after all – had once built a carbon-carbon tank car from a Chevrolet El Camino and named it “El Kamina”.

“But why from Chevrolet! You should have built it from Mahindra,” exclaimed the oligarch. Namely, he manufactures Mahindra brand cars.

India’s multi-billionaires live apart from other mortals, in their own elite bubbles, and they don’t crack jokes for warmth. They have a purpose. Mahindra soon announced that it would buy 35 percent of Sampo-Rosenlew.

A few months ago, in the summer of 2022, further news came: Mahindra acquired the remaining shares of the engineering company from Pori.

Although Sampo-Rosenlew is no longer one of Finland’s largest companies, nor is it a snotty startup company.

Its parent company Oy W. Rosenlew Ab was founded in Pori in 1853.

It’s good to get a taste of it already: 169 years ago. At that time, Finland was the westernmost part of the Russian Empire, which was led by a St. Petersburger who seemed distant to the people of Pori Nicholas I.

Almost all of Pori had burned to the ground in the great fire of 1852, so the founding of the W. Rosenlew company was connected to the ghost town being resurrected. The fire had started – of course – in the merchant Rosenlew’s house.

Now, after 169 years, Sampo-Rosenlew takes a breather in Pori. Going forward, its strategies will ultimately be decided in Mumbai, India.

That’s how history throws us.

Power in the world slides into Asia. Both economic and political power.

Now we are already at the point where on the list of the world’s five largest economies, China is second, Japan is third and India is fifth.

The United States and Germany will continue to be tickled for some time as number one and number four.

Long-term forecasts suggest that India’s economy in particular will grow faster than others in the coming years and decades. Although the pandemic brought the Indian economy to a near standstill for a while, growth of around six percent is expected again next year.

At the same time, India overtakes China in terms of population and becomes the most populous country in the world. The 1,400 million Indians have a lot of young people, while the Chinese have a lot of old people.

Youth makes society dynamic. From the 2020s until at least the 2060s, India will be a kingdom of the young and middle-aged, unlike Europe and North America, which are graying and rolling.

Few people notice it in everyday life in Finland, but India already extends its power to Finland. And Indians don’t come to Finland just to shop for tractors. Nor do they come here to do our laundry, gather our wild berries, and deliver dinner to our doorstep, although all of those are valuable jobs in their own right.

Indians arrive specifically to divide the spoils of the IT industry.

At least 22 Indian IT companies already operate in Finland, the most significant of which are the global giants Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Tech Mahindra.

That’s why we should continue to listen to what kind of jokes Indian oligarchs throw at Finnish decision-makers.

I gave my thoughts ticket to another six years ago to Mumbai, India. The Prime Minister of Sweden was also on the same trip with Sipilä Stefan Löfven and Deputy Prime Minister of Poland Piotr Gliński.

Now all three of those European politicians have sunk into rather small rank influencers.

Instead, India’s 72-year-old authoritarian prime minister Narendra Modi is in power and his party BJP is most likely to win the 2024 general elections.

Modi will continue his authoritarianism until at least 2029.

The rise of giant states like China and India means difficult times for Europe, European value liberalism and democracy. Modi is a mirror image of the world: according to Freedom House the report according to the world has become more undemocratic every single year for 16 years now.

That’s why I’m finally sending warm greetings to Pori: Take care of your traditional companies. When it comes to buying Finnish companies from illiberal countries, it’s a good idea to keep your senses up and your values ​​clear.

Otherwise, they bring their own values ​​to Pori.

Correction: In 1853 Russia was ruled by Tsar Nicholas I, not Alexander II.