Indian Weekender spoke to business delegates about their impressions on the business mission to India that accompanied Prime Minister John Key. Here are four responses. More responses will follow in the next issue of Indian Weekender along with more coverage of the visit.
Vipan Garg
Managing Director, National Steel
This is the first time that such a big delegation comprising both major businesses and SMEs has visited India under the behest of the government. The Prime Minister and Trade Minister accompanying the delegation has given great credibility to New Zealand’s serious intention of engaging with India. This will undoubtedly open opportunities for both countries.
The opportunities are tremendous. China is all about exporting. India is different. It is inward looking and wants to raise the standard of living of its people. For this it needs technologies, efficiencies and innovation – all of which New Zealand is good at. This can bring about great outcomes for both countries.
The big opportunities for India as I see it are in agriculture, information technology, film and animation industry and in infrastructure. New Zealand will always benefit form tourism because rich Indians are after exotic places and New Zealand has plenty to offer. Also New Zealand can cash in on the great Indian demand for quality higher education.
Sameer Handa,
Patton Refrigeration
Since we entered the Indian market three and a half years ago, we have been struggling to make ourselves known as a company from New Zealand. No one knows our company or for that matter even New Zealand. There was no profile whatsoever. But this sort of high profile delegation and the associated publicity will give it a lot of weight and importance.
The opportunities in India are amazing and are there for the asking. It is a question of positioning our proposal in the correct way. New Zealand has great brand value. This needs to be leveraged.
As I see it, one of the big opportunities is in the food preservation and storage industry. India has to throw away 40 per cent of its food because of poor post harvest technologies and infrastructure. That’s where a company like ours comes in. It’s clearly a big opportunity. This visit has certainly raised the profile of New Zealand and our businesses.
The FTA will make it more competitive for us to business in India. Hopefully tariffs will be reduced to nil – this may not happen immediately but over a period of time. But any reduction however small is a step in the right direction and will help. I am pleased with this bilateral process and the profile raising that the visit has done.
We are now opening our first wholesale outlet in Jaipur in September, which will mark the beginning of our wholesaling activity by ourselves rather than through agents as was previously the case. We are also planning a assembly/manufacturing facility for our products in western India in the Mumbai-Pune belt and are advertising for right person to lead the project.
Peter Chrisp,
CEO, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE)
I think this has been a very, very successful visit. Politicians giving it a profile and opening doors is fantastic and Kiwi business has leveraged that to good effect. Besides, throwing sports and Bollywood into the mix has made it extremely interesting for both countries.
The government as a whole has been thinking of a different strategy for doing business and engaging with India. The India strategy has gone through cabinet and will soon be made public.
There is no one size fits all approach any more and different markets need different strategies. We can’t have the same strategies for China and India. With india we are evolving a strategy that involves public-private partnerships: for instance, all concerned such as NZTE, MFaT, tourism and businesses will sing from the same song sheet.
India has had a healthy beachheads programme for the past 2-3 years – it has been successful mentoring New Zealand companies to establish contacts and finding markets in India. The new strategy will further help this programme achieve its goals.
The interesting thing about this mission was the sectoral approach. The aviation presented itself as a distinct sector within the delegation, which produced some interesting results for the delegates in the sector.
The sectoral approach is important. India is a market of massive growth across all sectors – services, IT, agriculture and so on. It is important to approach these opportunities sectorally – and this has been a good start.
It’s good that the FTA negotiations are happening to a timetable of sorts. It’s good to have a timetable – it keeps up the pressure on all quarters. It’s always good to work to a time frame.
India is a land of immense opportunity and immense reward but you have to build relationships for the longer term – not the short term. In that respect, cricket and Bollywood are great foundation stones. The politicians have done an extraordinary job of opening doors in India.
Roshan Nauhria,
Director, Nauhria Precast
This trip has been a step in the right direction. It’s high profile and the importance accorded to it by categorising it as a state visit shows the growing importance the two countries accord to each other.
This is an excellent platform from which to build the relationship. We need to now step up our act and follow through on these achievements in the coming weeks and months.
I am confident the FTA will go through roughly in the time frame envisaged by the negotiating teams of the two countries. In the meantime, we must also encourage more people to people to contact.
There is much that the two countries can learn from each other not only in business matters but also in matters of culture.