Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham spend four days in India. The tour was full of announcements and openings.
Senator Birmingham had a delegation of more than 100 Australian businesses and organisations accompanying him to India as a part of Australia’s push to strengthen economic ties with India, which is Australia’s eighth-largest trading partner and fifth-largest export market.
Highlights:
- Senator Birmingham had a delegation of more than 100 Australian businesses and organisations accompanying him to India.
- In India, Minister Birmingham made some significant announcements
- One significant announcement was the launch of ‘Taste of Australia’ campaign in India.
Renowned Policy analyst and Newland Global Group GM Natasha Jha Bhaskar says the two countries are witnessing a significant shift with more involvement at government, business and people-to-people level.
“The Australia India Business Exchange is a clear attempt at acknowledging and taking a strong note of the change that is happening within the Australia India space and turn these positive sentiments and deliberations, these goals and objectives which are very clearly stated in the India Economic Strategy 2035 into tangibles and actions,” says Ms Bhaskar.
Major announcements in India
In India, Minister Birmingham made some significant announcements, such as the $1 million funding injection to promote Indian visitation to Australia for the ICC T20 World Cup later this year.
“In the wake of the recent bushfires, getting the message out there that Australia is open for business and that our tourism industry wants Indian travellers to visit is critical,” Minister Birmingham said at an event in Mumbai.
An Australian online store has been launched on Amazon India to provide more exposure to Australian brands. Simon Birmingham, who launched the online store in Mumbai, said it would be a game-changer for Australian brands in India.
“Thousands of Australian food, health and lifestyle brands will now be available at the click of a button in the world’s fastest-growing consumer market, thanks to this partnership,” he said.
“Having a dedicated one-stop-shop for Australian brands on one of the largest online marketplaces in India is a huge win for Australian businesses. Amazon has the highest share of customers across all marketplaces in a country of 1.3 billion people. That represents the eye-watering potential for many Australian businesses,” he added.
Source: https://twitter.com/Birmo
Another significant announcement was the launch of ‘Taste of Australia’ campaign in India.
“This campaign is about lifting the profile of Australian food products in India and highlighting their quality and safety to millions of Indian consumers,” Senator Birmingham said in an event.
All these launches and announcements were made to make sure Australian businesses are front and centre as India’s economy grows over the next 20 years. Indian economy is predicted to be the third-largest in the world by 2035.
Immense opportunities
Australia’s India Economic Strategy, which is a detailed plan to transform Australia’s economic partnership with India out to 2035, has set a target for India to become one of Australia’s top three export market.
Natasha Jha Bhaskar believes Minister Simon Birmingham’s visit is a big step forward.
“Mutual understanding is key to any great relationships which is driven by ideas, knowledge and opportunities. Australia India Business Exchange program is an initiative towards that,” says Ms Bhaskar pointing to the fact that there are some challenges as the two countries move forward.
“The major challenge remains for the Australian businesses to penetrate because just as much Indian consumers are looking for quality, they are also looking for cost-efficient technology.”
Ms Bhaskar says the opportunities are "immense" in specific sectors.
Natasha Jha Bhaskar, GM, Newland Global Group, and Policy Analyst Source: Supplied
“Narrative on Education for Australia has to shift from just looking at increasing the number of students in universities to enabling relationships of capacity building, engaging the higher education institutions in metro cities and beyond metro cities, exploring joint student academic mobility program etc.,” elucidates Ms Bhaskar.
She says Agribusiness is a very touchy sector as it remains one of the significant constraints in the free trade agreement between Australia and India.
“But, just as India’s agriculture just shifting from subsistence to commercial model, creating opportunities for Australian businesses.”
She says building business relationships take time.
“It’s just that we have to sustain this momentum and stay positive, continuously engage with the Indian establishment. A lot of that has happened, but what happens next, where do we go beyond these meetings, how many businesses come back and look at directly engaging, these are the areas which would require constant work. I think that’s where the opportunity for both India and Australia to engage,” she said.
