Industry representatives have urged the German chancellor to discuss increased business ties with India during the meeting. Some business leaders are hoping Germany can close on a free trade deal 10 years in the making.
Although Berlin and New Delhi didn't offer details about the meeting, government officials suggested that their economic relationship was on the agenda.
"It is clear that the prime minister of a nation of 1.3 billion people is always a welcome guest and discussion partner for us. We have intensive economic interests in common," said German government spokesman Steffen Seibert.
Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet that the "visit demonstrates our mutual desire to strengthen our strategic partnership."
With more than 300 offices in the industrial city of Pune, German companies have also called for more access to Indian markets. But more than ten years after the EU and India agreed to start work on a free trade agreement, both sides have yet to clench a deal.
"A free trade agreement would create trust and show foreign companies that they are welcome here," Thomas Fuhrmann, president of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, told Handelsblatt. "India must send a signal that its market is open."
Germany is considered India's "largest trading partner in Europe," according to the Indian Foreign Ministry. Bilateral trade hit €17.42 billion ($21.44 billion) in 2016.
DW profiles some of the India-born chief executive officers (CEOs), who are currently in charge of global companies, including Microsoft and PepsiCo. Google's Sundar Pichai is the latest addition to this list.
Image: Reuters/R. Galbraith
Satya Nadella
Born in Hyderabad, India, Satya Narayana Nadella became the CEO of the US technology giant Microsoft in early 2014. After completing his Bachelor's in India, he went to the US to pursue higher education in Computer Science. Nadella had worked with Sun Microsystems before joining Microsoft in 1992.
Image: Reuters
Sundar Pichai
An Indian Institute of Technology alumnus, Pichai is the new CEO of Internet giant Google. The Chennai-born soft-spoken Pichai joined the company in 2004. Larry Page, one of Google's two founders, said this in his recent blog about Pichai: "I feel very fortunate to have someone as talented as he is to run the slightly slimmed down Google."
Image: picture alliance/dpa/J. Chiu
Indra Nooyi
Nooyi has been the CEO of PepsiCo - the second-largest food and beverage comapny in the world by net revenue - since 2006. She has consistently ranked among the world's 100 most powerful women. Like many others, she attended schools and colleges in India before leaving the country for higher education in the US.
Image: AP
Shantanu Narayen
Like Microsoft's chief Nadella, Narayen is an alumnus of the Hyderabad Public School. He is the CEO of Adobe Systems. Narayen started his professional career at Apple.
Image: Getty Images/J. Sullivan
Rajeev Suri
Nokia's CEO Rajeev Suri went to the Manipal Institute of Technology. He became Nokia's boss after the sale of Nokia's phone division to Microsoft Mobile was completed.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/R. Rekomaa
Ajaypal Singh Banga
Ajay Banga has been in charge of MasterCard since 2010. An Economics graduate from Delhi University, Banga did his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/N. Hutton
Ivan Menezes
Another graduate of the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, Menezes is currently CEO of Diageo, a multinational alcoholic beverages company.
