Western Australia will profit from strong business ties with India: Report

Western Australia must look beyond China and other major countries and can have a robust engagement with India across several sectors in a mutually win-win situation, emanates the overarching message of the recently tabled report ‘Turning to India: Investing in our future’.

Even as the world faces one of the most challenging times in recent history owing to the health crisis resulting from the Covid pandemic, its fallout goes far beyond health crisis. Perhaps the hardest hit aspect of life, after health is the economic one; with millions of people losing jobs across the globe and businesses having a hard time keeping themselves afloat. Three things emerge that have people all over the world worrying since the pandemic ---- the adverse impact this pandemic has had on trade flows, supply chain and free movement of people within countries and across borders. The strained relationship between Australia and China and the subsequent announcement of a range of restrictions imposed by China on Australian exports have adversely affected Australia’s economy, including that of Western Australia. Therefore, as the report ‘Turning to India: Investing in our future’ states, there has not been a more important time to consider the measures Western Australia can take to protect its existing trade relationships and look for entry into new markets. And more so it has been realized now that any reliance on a single partner in today’s highly volatile economic, business and geopolitical environment is fraught with economic and business dangers. It is herein that India emerges to be a viable, reliable and profitable business ally for Australia, in general and Western Australia, in particular.

Why engage with India?

The report ‘Turning to India: Investing in our future’ highlights why India can be a viable, reliable and profitable long-term trade ally of Western Australia. India is widely recognised as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Experts predict that by 2035 India will be the third largest national economy, behind China and the United States. As a result, a rapidly developing India will need many goods and services that Western Australia can provide, including those from the education, mining, energy, agriculture and tourism sectors. This inquiry originally intended to examine how Western Australia can regain momentum in its trading relationship with India, became an opportunity to study further Western Australia’s future relationships with Asia with the release of two key State Government policies: Diversify WA: Strong Economy, Creating Jobs, Diverse Industries (Diversify WA) and Western Australia’s Asian Engagement Strategy 2019–2030: Our future with Asia (Asian Engagement Strategy). Though the outbreak of the pandemic and the looming uncertainty cast a doubt on whether or not Western Australia should proceed with the inquiry, over a period of a few months it became apparent that Western Australia’s economic future lay in looking beyond China.

Among all Western Australia’s potential trading partners, India has received the prime focus it deserves given the country’s large market potential and the ambitious nature of a rather youthful country. Though some feel that India’s system of government is complex and the country needs to do more in terms of economic reforms, especially in terms of reducing the high tariffs it still imposes, given the country’s potential and the desire to grow, it is worth engaging with India in forging strong Western Australia-India trade relations. This could well be a win-win situation for both Western Australia and India as a burgeoning business relation between both would encourage the Indians to bring the muchneeded reforms in the country’s economy thereby opening more opportunities for expanding business relations between them.

For this to happen from the perspective of Western Australia, the report states that it must diversify its trade base to ensure the future prosperity of the State beyond mineral and energy commodities within sectors, including by expanding the products or services offered within one sector and across foreign investment markets, beyond the United States, Western Europe, Japan and China. India is an important market for economic diversification. Though India’s growth rate has slowed down considerably due to the prevailing pandemic, India is still being projected to have the third largest economy in the world by 2035. It is being realized that the scale of India’s economy is extraordinary. In 2019, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) was US$3 trillion. Moreover, India’s trajectory of liberalization, trade openness, investment, and its aspirations to upskill its people generate a range of economic opportunities for Western Australia in the short, medium and long term. India’s young population, urbanization and growing middle class will continue to demand goods and services that Western Australia can supply, finds the report.

Need for a long-term strategic approach

In the light of India’s potential as a business and trade partner, it is pertinent that Western Australia should adopt a long-term strategic approach to engage with India. In this regard, the State Government through its economic framework, Diversify WA: Strong Economy, Creating Jobs, Diverse Industries, and Western Australia’s Asian Engagement Strategy 2019–2030: Our future with Asia has taken a sectoral approach identifying six priority sectors such as energy; tourism, events and creative industries; international education; mining and mining equipment, technology and services; technology and advanced manufacturing; and primary industries. The Western Australia Investment and Trade Plan 2019–20 (Investment and Trade Plan) has identified priority subsectors in India that fall within Western Australia’s six priority sectors. In this regard, the Government of Western Australia’s office in India based in Mumbai plays a very important role in growing the Western Australia–India economic relationship.

What must be done?

The report recommends that all levels of government in Australia —national, state and local—must strategically invest in developing the Western Australia–India economic relationship. In this respect, a non-partisan approach to trade policy will enable successive administrations to take strategic and ambitious approaches to policy and programme development and assist in the development of stronger, long-term trading ties with India. The State Government, businesses and institutions should collaborate and proactively engage with Commonwealth Government strategies, resources and engagement initiatives with India to raise Western Australia’s profile, improve stakeholder relationships and promote its products and services, says the report. Positive vibes have also emanated from the Indians with the forthcoming Australia Economic Strategy being the Indian Government’s response to Australia’s An India Economic Strategy to 2035: Navigating from Potential to Delivery. The Strategy could go a long way in stimulating additional Indian interest in developing trading relationship with Western Australia across a range of opportunities and sectors.