New Delhi, March 23 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will jointly inaugurate the Hannover Messe 2015 fair on April 12, where India is a partner country, said a commerce ministry statement here on Monday.

"By adopting the theme of Make in India, the country is branding strongly in the forthcoming fair in Germany during April 2015," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters here on Monday.

"Large scale participation is being made by India in Hannover Messe 2015, by branding the Make in India slogan of the government in a widespread manner in Germany and other neighbouring European countries," she added.

The Hannover Fair, which attracts nearly 200,000 global leaders in business, technology, industrial scientists and policy makers, will be held April 13-17, the statement said.

In a Make in India networking event last week in Frankfurt with the German corporate sector, the Indian consul general invited companies to visit and do business with India.

Germany is the eighth largest foreign direct investor in India. German FDI in India during the period 1991-2014 was valued at $7.57 billion.