The most beautiful thing about the first ball sent down the pitch at the Gabba this week is the unpredictability of what will happen next. After the shock results in the Perth and Adelaide test matches, no one knows what will unfold over the rest of the summer but there is one certainty: India has become the main game.
Thirty years ago, an Indian cricket tour to Australia represented something of an ‘off year’ in the Test summer schedule. Now there’s nothing bigger. Hundreds of millions of fans are tracking each twist and turn of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on their mobile phones and grounds around the nation are heaving with the Indian-Australian diaspora cheering in good-natured rivalry with Australian supporters.
The rise of interest in the India-Australia cricket rivalry has closely tracked the rise of India globally. The connection between our two countries has never been stronger. Our first free trade agreement with India has been in place since December 2022, and is delivering major wins for Australian exporters and stronger economic ties with India.
We are also accelerating our efforts through a new 'Roadmap' for Australia's economic engagement with India. India will be the world's third-largest economy by the end of the decade. Its consumption of goods and services will double over the next seven years, driven by a youthful population in which one million Indians turn 18 every month. And our diaspora links could not be stronger, with India now Australia’s largest source of migrants.
Nevertheless, there is so much more we can do to boost our economic relationship. So how can we take our partnership to new heights? Partly, and most obviously, we can do more to increase awareness of the economic transformation that’s taking place in India. Just stepping off a plane at any major Indian airport today tends to go a long way to understand the immense change in front of us.
We also need to refresh our perspective on risk, including the outdated ideas about Indian bureaucracy and red tape. Other markets might seem more established and easier to export to. As a federal, free-market democracy, India can indeed be complex. But there are abundant export opportunities in India, made easier by partnering with local Indian businesses to navigate the system.
For many businesses, they are seeing major progress in addressing the barriers to export. Tariffs cuts under our free trade agreement with India have boosted our exports – for example, Australian agricultural exports to India increased 59 per cent from 2022 to 2023 while our services exports grew 77 per cent in the same period. The value of lamb sent to India is up 163 per cent, and almonds are up 117 per cent. The Australian and Indian governments are now in negotiations to build on our first trade agreement, through a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement to lower tariff and other barriers to trade even further. Businesses need to be ready to take hold of these many opportunities.
Australians and Indians in partnership have incredible potential to drive successful companies and ventures that can sell not just to India, but to the world. A lot of this potential stems from our deeply complementary tech capability. Whilst research-driven industrial tech is often more advanced in Australia, India has many of the world’s most skilled engineers and IT professionals. Indian partnerships could be the key to commercialising at scale.
The India-Australia Green Hydrogen Taskforce and elevated India-Australia Renewable Energy Partnership are great examples of a productive efforts delivering real impact. India’s demand for green hydrogen and other renewable technologies is expected to explode in coming decades, and Australia is seizing this opportunity. But we can do more.
India and Australia have a shared understanding that it is the private sector - and not the state - that primarily drives growth. Knowledge-based partnerships are much easier with shared language, and 88 per cent of India’s urban population speak English.
So if you’re an Australian business leader and you’re convinced, what next? My best advice is to start engaging and be prepared to lock in and be patient. There are unparalleled opportunities in India, and their growth is only gaining speed. Genuine economic opportunity this century will be driven by innovative knowledge partnerships and the capacity to commercialise good ideas at scale. As has been proven for two decades in the Indian Premier League, Indians and Australians in partnership make a killer combo.