Brisbane Business Hub special talk on Share your Business to the World: Export Opportunities to India

By Amrita Deshpande India News Community News

Community News Editor

It was an ARVO session with small business leaders in Brisbane who came together to discuss the future of trade with India. What legal paperwork must be prepared by business leaders when they deal with India? How can they market their product and export it to India? These were the main questions on the mind of the business leaders attending this session at the Lord Mayor’s Business Hub on May 23rd.

The current ECTA agreement has increased the interest for local businesses in Brisbane to explore the Indian market. This session gave insightful tips to those business leaders looking for tariff reduction on their products currently being exported to India and what will be the future products that will have reduced to zero tariffs.

Abhinav Bhatia of Trade Investment Queensland joined the speakers virtually giving an overview of the current IndiaAustralia trade scenario, and the Market trends for opportunities to export to India. He said that “ India will remain the youngest country until 2070. We are heading into a diamond-shaped demographic where the middle class is getting stronger day by day.” He also added that there is an emphasis on skincare and sports products for exports and consumption. Avacado is also in demand.

Mr. Jitendra Khara, from Strategic Partnership at Redland City Council briefed everyone on the behavioral traits when dealing with the business community in India. He said, “Using WhatsApp for communication when in India is a must as everyone will expect you to communicate through WhatsApp. Most business deals are closed through WhatsApp communications.”

Francis Lisson, Chief Negotiator in her presentation said that “ Export to India is narrow because of the protectionist and high Tarrifs on goods. However, the ECTA has eased that and made it possible for 86% of products exported to reduce tariff to zero. We are aiming for 90% now.” she also said that such deals were struck and one of the first by a major developed country.

Emma Logan, Assistant Director Free Trade Agreement Goods Branch said that The Certificate of origin is a major document that needed attention. With electronic certificates and QRCodes it is now much easier for the process to be smoother.

Alison Atia, Co-founder and CEO of Skin O2 said that “lower Tarrif made O2’s products go on top of the list, and that fostered the much-needed business deals”.

In conclusion, it was a very insightful session where all speakers put forth not only the difficulties in trade with India that occurred before and after the ECTA trade but also gave the success stories of how it has now changed making the processes smoother. Such sessions must be organized by the Indian Diaspora as well to spread the potential of the Indian Market to help facilitate that trade relationship with their fellow Indians. The Brisbane Business Hub and Australia India Business Council are good connections to seek and keep updated with Australia-India business and trade information.