Australia for expanding ties with India

Besides mining, agriculture, education and services, which were some of the core areas of bilateral trade and investment between India and Australia at present, Australia was keen to focus on other potential areas of business like food and beverages business, automotive sector, aerospace industry etc, informed Micheal Carter, Counsellor Commercial, Australian Trade Commission.

“India happens to be the fourth largest export destination for Australia, it is a very important strategic partner for trade, but the current export import activity between the two countries is largely confined to mining and mining resources, education, services, agriculture, and more of a resource-based relationship which can be widened. There is a lot of scope for business and possible collaboration in the areas of food and beverages particularly wine, travel and tourism,” he said.

Australia's exports to India was worth around 12 billion Australian dollars last fiscal.

There is a need to widen the export-import portfolio through sectors like aerospace, travel and tourism, wine and beverages industry. A lot of Australian wine exporters were particularly robust about investing in India as it was seen as the next growth market, Carter pointed out.

Of the total domestic wine market in India, which is around 1.5 million cases per annum, almost 1,60,000 cases are imported, of which Australian imported wine enjoys roughly 25 per cent. “This share is growing and we are in talks with several state governments in the northern part of the country, particularly Haryana, Punjab, and other states for setting up some production facilities in collabration with domestic players into food processing and agri-business,” he added.