Piyush Goyal seeks investments from Australia; assures better returns

Seeking investments, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said India and Australia can enhance cooperation in areas such as skill development, education, services sectors, information technology, manufacturing and internet of things.

He said Australian firms that would invest in India can own 100 per cent of their companies and keep their technology and trade secrets.

You get a huge market (in India) with huge defence budgets, particularly considering the situation and the neighbourhood in which we are located.We would love to see investments growing into India from Australia and I will assure you that you will get far better returns than the return you get in your own country today, Goyal said in a luncheon meeting with businesses of both the countries here.

India and Australia have recently inked economic cooperation and trade agreements to boost economic ties.

In this agreement, the minister said, India is looking at several ways to expand relationships, particularly in the fields of skill development, education, and services sectors, which hold huge potential.

Probably (we can look at) even developing 5G telecom systems together, he added.

Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India, while New Delhi is Canberra's 9th largest partner. India's goods exports were worth USD 6.9 billion and imports aggregated to USD 15.1 billion in 2021.