Australia woos Indian mining majors

With a global supply constraint on minerals, the western Australian region which has large mining and petroleum reserves, is extending itself as a destination for investment to cater to the increasing demand.

Indian investors have bitten the bait with the Oswal Group, the Birla Group, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and recently, Deepak Fertilisers investing in the region.

According to Bill Preston, general manager, department of industry and resources, Western Australia more Indian companies involved in metals, ferro-alloys as well as gas have evinced keen interest to invest in facilities.

"Australia is the third-largest producer of iron ore in the world, and Western Australia accounts for more than a third of its supply. India itself is in competition with Australia and is a significant exporter. Therefore, our government aims to assist in management processes by information sharing, and especially help speed up the approval process for the projects," he said. He added that talks were initiated at the government level in this regard under the National Democratic Alliance.

Besides, the western Australian region also accounts for 60 per cent of the diamonds that come into India from the Argyle mines, imported through Belgium and is a significant producer of gold.

While mining, which accounts for 78 per cent of the regions total exports (2002-2003) is a prominent area of investment, agriculture and agri-food processing is also an area of focus.

Sonia Grinceri, regional director, Western Australian Trade Office said, "Our office sees a great potential in the super market segment in India, as well as value addition in the farm products. India and Australia can work in synergy in this sector. Several projects have also been initiated to aid Indian industries on a non-funded basis."

Three schemes have received technical know-how till date - an apple production project in Sikkim, a wine project in Nasik and a dairy sector enterprise in Maharashtra.