The Global Race for India's Pie: How Finland Can Seize Its First Foothold
By Swarnakshi Luhach
India is no longer a market of tomorrow. By 2026, the message from New Delhi is unequivocal: the country has concluded nine free trade agreements, all with "developed economies," and secured preferential trade access to nearly two-thirds of global commerce. In January 2026, India and the European Union concluded FTA negotiations alongside a security and defence partnership, a mobility framework, and a comprehensive strategic agenda running to 2030.[1]
Meanwhile, the United States and India are finalising a bilateral trade agreement that goes well beyond tariffs to encompass market access, supply chains, and emerging sectors.[2] Italy has elevated its relationship with India to a "Special Strategic Partnership," aiming to reach €20 billion in bilateral trade by 2029.[3] The UK has concluded its own FTA with India, featuring the first-ever dedicated innovation chapter, and launched a £24 million India-UK Connectivity and Innovation Centre for AI-native 6G networks.[4] Japan has adopted a "Joint Vision for the Next Decade,"[5] integrating its industrial competitiveness partnership with India's "Make in India" initiative. The Netherlands, with bilateral trade reaching $27.8 billion, has elevated its ties to a strategic partnership covering semiconductors, AI, and quantum systems.[6]
The battle lines are clear: India's $94.5 billion in annual foreign direct investment [7] is being chased by virtually every advanced economy on the planet.
Finland's Current Footing – Promising, but Fragile
Finland is not absent from this race. The bilateral relationship has deepened substantially in recent years. Over 100 Finnish companies now operate in India,[8] including giants like Nokia, KONE, and Wärtsilä, with cumulative investments of approximately €4 billion. Trade in goods and services between the two countries stands at around €3 billion, with Ambassador Kimmo Lähdevirta estimating it could double to €6 billion by 2032 under the EU-India FTA. During April–December FY26, India-Finland trade recorded a 19% increase, reaching roughly $1.52 billion.[9]
The 2025–2026 period has witnessed a flurry of institutional deepening: the 13th Foreign Office Consultations in Helsinki, the launch of the Indo-Finland Startup Corridor, the India-Finland Joint Innovation Call 2026 backed by Business Finland and DST, the co-hosting of the World Circular Economy Forum 2026 in Gandhinagar, and the signing of a Migration and Mobility Partnership to facilitate talent flows.
President Alexander Stubb called the EU-India FTA "historic," while Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has emphasised that the deal unlocks "huge potential" for nearly two billion people. The areas of cooperation now span digitalisation, quantum computing, 5G/6G, AI, sustainability, clean technologies, circular economy, education, R&D, and space tech.
Yet despite this momentum, Finland's position remains under-realised. The uncomfortable reality is that while Finland has been building bridges, others, such as Germany, France, the UK, Japan, and the United States, have been constructing expressways.
The Blueprint from Other Frontrunners – What Mature Corridors Look Like
Germany has made SME collaboration the backbone of its India strategy. A joint Fraunhofer–DWIH paper [10] outlines Indo-German SME innovation pathways with specific national funding programmes on both sides and strategic recommendations for cross-border innovative capacity. The Indo-German MSME Conclave, the Asia Berlin Summit, and Make in India Mittelstand (MIIM) demonstrate a systematic, institutionalised approach. A decade-long strategy (2025–2035) proposes a $50M joint innovation fund and fast-tracked export controls.
France has oriented its engagement around the India-France Year of Innovation 2026.[11] The La French Tech India AI Summit 2025 set the stage for deeper AI collaboration, with Indian and French stakeholders building Indo-French AI incubators that combine French entrepreneurship methodologies with India's deep engineering talent pool. The strategy is to designate a thematic year, align institutional weight behind it, and build permanent innovation infrastructure that outlasts political cycles.
The UK has embedded innovation structurally within its trade architecture through a dedicated innovation chapter in its FTA, a £24 million joint telecom innovation centre, AI-native network projects, 12 landmark deals spanning technology, education, trade, and health, and UK university campuses in India. The UK-India corridor is underpinned by the 2035 Vision agreement,[12] anchoring expectations over a horizon long enough for genuine ecosystem-building.
Sweden illustrates what a Nordic peer can achieve. During PM Modi's May 2026 visit, Sweden launched the India-Sweden Innovation Partnership 2.0, the Sweden-India Technology and AI Corridor (SITAC), a virtual India-Sweden Joint Science and Technology Centre, and a dedicated SME and Startup Platform.[13] The corridor connects startups, academia, and industry across AI, 6G, quantum, semiconductors, and digital infrastructure.
These frameworks share a common architecture of dedicated funding instruments, institutional homes, sustained political attention, and a recognition that innovation collaboration cannot be an afterthought to trade, rather, it must be the engine of it.
What Finland Brings That Others Don't – The Untapped Strategic Niche
Finland's comparative advantage lies in leveraging assets that are genuinely scarce in the Indian ecosystem.
Deep-tech density with commercial discipline. Finland has produced 15 unicorns from a population of 5.5 million, with VC funding hitting $1.5 billion in 2024.[14] Its startup ecosystem comprises over 4,000 companies employing 50,000 people worldwide, with an interconnected network of entrepreneurs, academia, public organisations, and financiers. Strong sectors reflect technological depth: AI, health tech, gaming, and deep tech lead the way.
World-class expertise in domains of acute Indian demand. Finland brings deep expertise in frontier technologies such as 5G/6G, cybersecurity, photonics, MEMS, quantum computing, space technology, and circular economy that align directly with India's strategic priorities. In healthcare, Finland is uniquely positioned to partner with India's $372 billion market,[15] offering one of the world's best healthcare systems that combines cost efficiency with high-quality outcomes. Finland's national quantum strategy [16] and semiconductor initiative demonstrate deliberate capability-building in technologies where India seeks sovereign capacity.
A values-based technology policy aligned with India's digital sovereignty goals. Finland's international technology policy is grounded in human rights, equality, democracy, and the rule of law. These values resonate with India's conception of trusted digital infrastructure and make Finland an attractive partner for sensitive technology domains.
An established Indian talent bridge. Indians account for 34% of specialists in the Finnish tech ecosystem,[17] creating a natural diaspora bridge for market intelligence, cultural navigation, and co-innovation. The new Migration and Mobility Partnership [18] further facilitates this talent circulation.
What Finland Must Do – A Concrete, Six-Pillar Strategy
Ambition without institutional architecture is aspiration. Finland needs a deliberate, resourced strategy. The following six pillars constitute a roadmap for action.
Pillar 1: Establish a Dedicated "Finland-India Co-Innovation Fund" with SME-Specific Windows
Finland should consider creating a dedicated Finland–India Co-Innovation Fund, with a target envelope of at least €50 million over five years, jointly capitalised with Indian public and institutional partners. The case for such a fund is strengthened by the fact that Business Finland already has relevant R&D instruments.[19] These existing instruments could be adapted into targeted Indo-Finnish windows rather than built entirely from scratch.
Since 2025, companies with a Business Finland-funded R&D project have been able to apply for complementary Finnpartnership innovation funding, structured as de minimis support [20] and linked to the parent R&D project. This should be marketed more actively to Finnish SMEs and midcaps seeking to localise, pilot, or co-develop solutions with Indian partners.
The India–Finland Joint Innovation Call 2026,[21] organised by Business Finland, DST, and TDB, offers an immediate starting point. However, because the call has no fixed Finnish allocation and is expected to support only a limited number of projects, it should be treated as a pilot mechanism rather than a substitute for a dedicated co-innovation fund. Its value lies in demonstrating demand, building administrative learning, and creating a pipeline for a larger Finland–India innovation financing architecture.
Pillar 2: Create a Finland-India Innovation Hub in India
Finland should establish a permanent Finland–India Innovation Hub in India, with Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, or Ahmedabad as possible locations, depending on sector focus and partner readiness. The hub should go beyond conventional trade promotion by offering soft-landing support, regulatory navigation, partner discovery, local hiring guidance, and access to prototyping or testing facilities through Indian ecosystem partners.
Finland has already expanded its India-facing presence through the opening of an Honorary Consulate in Ahmedabad in 2025, and the existing Business Finland India office and Team Finland India network can provide useful institutional scaffolding. However, a dedicated innovation hub staffed by Finnish and Indian professionals with deep local networks would represent a step-change: it would convert episodic missions, startup exchanges, and advisory services into a permanent platform for co-development, piloting, and market entry.
Pillar 3: Launch a "Finland-India SME Bridge" Programme
Finland should create a structured market-entry programme for Finnish SMEs and midcaps with India-relevant technologies. The programme should focus on firms whose products align with India’s industrial priorities, including advanced manufacturing, clean energy, batteries, electronics, industrial digitalisation, circular economy, water systems, and food processing.
India’s PLI schemes [22] provide a useful incentive landscape, having attracted ₹1.76 lakh crore in investment, generated over ₹16.5 lakh crore in production and sales, and created more than 12 lakh direct and indirect jobs. They have also drawn major global manufacturers. However, Finnish firms would need careful screening against scheme eligibility, scale requirements, local manufacturing conditions, and investment thresholds.
The Finland–India SME Bridge should therefore combine practical B2B matchmaking, regulatory navigation, partner due diligence, and first-stage legal and accounting support. Finnpartnership’s matchmaking database already connects developing-market companies with Finnish partners, while its Business Partnership Support can help Finnish companies with target-market screening and partner background checks. A Finland-specific bridge could build on this by adding an India-facing regulatory concierge to navigate national and state single-window systems, support for company setup and compliance during the first 12–18 months, and structured access to state-level industrial infrastructure where sector fit is strong.
Pillar 4: Designate a "Finland-India Year of Innovation" in 2027 or 2028
Finland should propose a Finland–India Year of Innovation in 2027 or 2028, modelled on the high-visibility India–France Year of Innovation 2026. A Finland–India version should be more targeted, anchored around areas where the partnership already has momentum: digitalisation, sustainability, clean energy, 6G, AI, semiconductors, microelectronics, and startup collaboration.
The campaign could be anchored by two flagship ecosystem events: Slush in Helsinki and Startup Mahakumbh in India. This would build directly on the 2026 India–Finland joint statement, which already recognises Indian startup participation in Slush, Finnish startup participation in Startup Mahakumbh, and the Indo-Finland Startup Corridor. The Year of Innovation could add joint hackathons, university partnerships, R&D challenges, investor showcases, and sector-specific demo days.
The India–Finland Joint Innovation Call 2026 could serve as the technical funding track for this campaign, particularly in sustainable energy, advanced digital technologies, microelectronics, and power electronics. However, because the call is limited in scale, it should be treated as a starting mechanism rather than the full architecture.
Polar Bear Pitching offers a distinctive public-facing platform. Its India Chapter returned to New Delhi in January 2026, with the winning Indian startup invited to the main Polar Bear Pitching event in Oulu. This makes it a useful symbol for the wider campaign: Finnish originality, Indian startup ambition, and a format that can generate media attention beyond conventional business diplomacy.
Pillar 5: Build the "Finland-India Deep Tech Corridor"
Finland should codify and brand its advanced technology cooperation with India as a Finland–India Deep Tech Corridor, consolidating existing work into clearly defined workstreams on AI, 6G, quantum and high-performance computing, space technology, semiconductors, circular economy, and sustainable energy systems. These are not speculative areas. The 2026 India–Finland joint statement already identifies 5G, 6G, high-performance and quantum computing, and AI as priority areas for collaboration; it also highlights space tech as an emerging area and circular economy as a key sustainability theme.
The case for a formal corridor is also strengthened by existing co-innovation experience. COFIRD,[23] was designed to build a Finnish–Indian co-creation and co-development platform for Finnish companies and research institutions. While COFIRD should be treated as a platform experience rather than a full corridor architecture, it provides a useful proof of concept: Finnish companies, universities, and Indian test-bed environments can be organised around applied R&D, localisation, and emerging-market deployment.
A formal Deep Tech Corridor would give this cooperation an institutional frame. It could connect Finnish actors such as VTT, Aalto University, Tampere University, the University of Helsinki, the University of Oulu, CSC, and Finnish deep-tech companies with Indian counterparts such as IISc, IITs, C-DAC, the Bharat 6G Alliance, sectoral ministries, and the Anusandhan National Research Foundation. The value of the corridor would be to move beyond one-off calls and delegations towards structured workstreams, shared testbeds, researcher and founder mobility, joint IP pathways, and commercially relevant R&D challenges.
Pillar 6: Integrate with EU Mechanisms and the Nordic Framework
Finland should not act alone where collective action can amplify impact. The EU–India FTA, whose negotiations were concluded in January 2026, creates a major opening for European companies once it is ratified and implemented. For Finnish firms, its value will come not only from tariff reductions, but also from customs facilitation, greater transparency, improved predictability, and a wider EU-level framework for market access.
Finland should position itself as a Nordic convenor for EU–India innovation collaboration. The 3rd India–Nordic Summit in May 2026 [24] elevated the relationship to a trusted Green Technology and Innovation Strategic Partnership, with cooperation spanning circular economy, green technologies, AI, digital infrastructure, research, education, startups, incubators, space, talent mobility, and sustainable industry. This gives Finland a stronger platform to connect bilateral India work with wider Nordic and EU mechanisms.
Finland also has a credible basis for this role. The 4th India–Nordic Summit will be hosted by Finland,[25] while WCEF 2026 in India, jointly hosted by India’s Central Pollution Control Board and the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, reinforces Finland’s visibility in circular economy diplomacy. By combining EU market-opening mechanisms, Nordic political alignment, and Finland’s sustainability and innovation brand, Finland can act as a focused connector between Indian demand and European climate, technology, and innovation capacity.
The Cost of Inaction – What Finland Stands to Lose
The window is narrowing. India is negotiating trade agreements with nearly a dozen nations simultaneously. With the India-EU FTA concluded, the first-mover advantages within Europe will accrue to those with existing institutional presence, brand recognition, and operational experience in the Indian market. Germany, France, the UK, and Sweden are already multiple steps ahead.
For Finnish companies, the opportunity cost of delayed entry is mounting. India's digital economy is attracting staggering investments: Google's $15 billion AI data hub in Visakhapatnam, Microsoft's $17.5 billion commitment over four years, $70 billion in AI computing infrastructure, and a data centre sector projected to attract $54 billion in 2026 alone. India's D2C market of over 11,000 brands is expected to exceed $100 billion, while the larger e-retail environment reaches $125 billion with 220 million buyers. These represent specific, addressable opportunities for Finnish companies in AI infrastructure, health tech, clean energy, digital services, and beyond.
Without deliberate, resourced, institutionally grounded engagement, Finland risks being crowded out because value without visibility and accessibility is indistinguishable from absence.
From a Good Relationship to a Strategic Partnership
Finland already possesses what many larger nations lack: a trusted political relationship with India, genuine technological complementarities, a world-class innovation ecosystem, and the institutional scaffolding upon which to build.
What it lacks is scale, visibility, and a unified strategic architecture that connects these assets into a coherent market proposition for Finnish companies and Indian partners alike. The EU-India FTA has removed the tariff barriers; what remains is the harder work of removing the awareness, information, and confidence barriers that prevent Finnish SMEs from viewing India as a realistic growth market.
Finland can claim its slice of India's pie. What is needed now is the ambition to match the opportunity and the institutional commitment to see it through. The race is on. The question is whether Finland will sprint or continue to jog.
Author(s):
Swarnakshi Luhach, Principal
