Indian solar company to help create jobs in Australia

India's Global Wind Power Limited has teamed up with Australia-based Heliostat to create hundreds of new jobs in South Australia, a media report said on Monday.

A new entity, Heliostat South Australia, has been created to develop solar products, ABC News reported, adding that a memorandum of understanding has been signed to this effect.

The project would expand over four years, meaning an initial 150 local jobs could grow to as many as 1,000 jobs, Heliostat executive chairman Darrin Spinks was quoted as saying.

Most of the labour work will be carried out in India, but managers and engineers will operate from Adelaide, he added.

"You have to remember India itself has a Make-in-India policy and that's really about making sure that they have jobs for India," Spinks said.

At 7.9 percent, South Australia has been struggling with the highest unemployment rate in the country. The project will not only help boost employment in the state but also help "build a new industry".

"We need to build a new industry ... and what everyone's asking is 'What can that new industry be?' And we believe that solar has a very large part to play," Spinks said.