India Economic Strategy – A critical roadmap for growth
Asialink Business welcomes the release of a comprehensive new strategy to help cement India as a priority economic partner
(17 July 2018)
Asialink Business welcomes the release of An India Economic Strategy to 2035: Navigating from Potential to Delivery by Mr Peter Varghese AO, Chancellor of the University of Queensland and former Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Commissioned by the Australian Government, the report looks beyond the immediate horizon and provides a roadmap for unlocking the opportunities that will help India and Australia grow together.
Aiming to move Australia’s relationship with India from potential to delivery, the report is the most detailed analysis ever undertaken of the complementarities of our two economies.
In a cover letter submitting the strategy, Mr Varghese said the report sought to “help transform Australia’s relationship with India, elevate our understanding of India’s trajectory out to 2035, and take our economic partnership to a new level”
“Over the next twenty years, [India] will need many of the goods and services which Australia is well positioned to supply. But over that time India will also become a much more crowded marketplace. Australia must prepare for that through a strategic investment in the relationship and a long term and ambitious strategy led at the highest levels of government,” Mr Varghese wrote.
The report finds that no single market over the next 20 years will offer more growth opportunities for Australia than India. By 2035, India will overtake China as the world’s most populous country. It is poised to become the third largest economy, after China and the United States.
Asialink Business CEO, Mukund Narayanamurti, who was a member of the Australian Reference Group for the strategy, welcomed the report.
“This timely and comprehensive strategy can help cement India as a priority economic and strategic partner.
“It sends an important signal that Australia is committed to India in the long term, focussed on maximising the complementarities in our economies, and aligning our objectives with strategic priorities in India’s national agenda.
“The future is not simply about what we can ‘sell’ to India – As we progress from potential to delivery, we need to be willing to learn from India and import its know-how. Australia can learn from India’s smart cities agenda, start-up action plan, its vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and its ability to undertake innovation at scale in a globally competitive manner, for instance.”
“Adapting behaviour, customising offerings and aligning priorities will be essential to long-term success with India at all levels of the economy,” Narayanamurti said.
Drawing on the findings of Asialink Business’ 2017 Match Fit: Shaping Asia capable leaders report, the strategy makes a strong call to action for corporate Australia to urgently improve its literacy of India’s business environment.
"Improving literacy of India’s business environment within corporate Australia should be a first-order priority. The boards and senior leadership of Australia’s biggest companies, particularly those listed on the ASX, have persistently low levels of ‘Asia literacy.’ This is not conducive to supporting long term strategic investment in Asian countries, especially those with relatively challenging business environments such as India. Asialink Business (Match Fit report) has found that 67 per cent of ASX 200 board members show no evidence of extensive experience operating in Asia while 55 per cent demonstrate little to no knowledge of Asian markets. This is despite Australia’s domestic consumer base increasingly reflecting multicultural Asia. (India Economic Strategy, pg. 327)"
The report identifies ten sectors where Australia’s competitive advantages match India’s needs, and ten states in India where we should focus efforts. It features comprehensive and detailed recommendations spanning investment, education, tourism, agribusiness, energy and resources, health, financial services, defence, innovation, infrastructure and other key aspects of the relationship.
The full report can be downloaded here