India_growing_middle.htm

A few years ago, I belonged to a Rotary International club in a small Southern U.S. town. In spite of our efforts to stay involved in global affairs, we really had few opportunities to do anything from our local perspective. We were ecstatic when the occasional foreign businessman visited our area; a gentlemen from India stayed around with us for several months and we bombarded him with all manner of questions. It was among the most interesting periods I ever spent, and I had no idea that I ever would have a focused interest in India’s place in world economic affairs. But here I am examining some potential India-Australia relationships.

Our Rotary visitor years ago spent much time explaining that India had an education problem which contributed to poverty in much of the country. How different things are today. We’ve just come through several years of employment dislocation in much of Europe and the U.S. Outsourcing or offshoring jobs caused criticism of participating companies and specifically India where most of the early moves were located.

How different is today’s view of India? Australia’s leaders are praising India’s growing economic progress and stressing new business opportunities for Australian traders.

The Bharat Times says these ideas about India were portrayed to a Melbourne conference sponsored by Asialink (University of Melbourne) in September, 2006:

India has a population of over 1 billion people.

India has an expanding middle-class of 350 million plus.

India enjoys a sustained GDP growth rate over 8% per year.

India is positioned to overtake Japan and Britain to be the world's third largest economy in the next 30 years.

India is the fastest growing democratic country in the world.

India is Asia's 3rd largest economy with GDP of USD 800 Billion.

India is the largest English speaking nation in the world.

A New Patent Regime was introduced on 1 January 2005 with full WTO compliance.

India boasts a world-renowned TQM (total quality management) expert Yasutoshi Washio predicts Indian manufacturing quality will overtake that of Japan in 2013.

In the last Financial Year India's trade with the Asia-Pacific Region exceeded trade with the EU and the USA for the first time.

Australia accounts for about 7% of India’s total imports.
At another conference, Australia’s Prime Minister, The Honorable John Howard, presented more ideas about the Indian phenomenon and compared it to China:

There is now an extraordinary transformation in the centre of gravity of the world’s middle class away from Europe and North America to a predominant concentration in the nations of Asia.

India has 350 million plus young middle class consumers with a propensity to spend more than ever before.

There is an equal and growing number of middle-class in China.

India’s national income will double every 30 years.

It has a young population with the real prospect, unlike China, of growing rich before it grows old.

11% to 12% of Australia’s migration is made up of citizens from India, the third largest source of migration to Australia.

India is the second largest source of overseas students.
From these conferences came some other facts Australian entrepreneurs might consider as opportunities for trading with India:

Commonwealth Games 2010 to be held in Delhi may offer good business opportunities for Australian entrepreneurs.

For those worried about dealing with Indian bureaucracy, India now has a Right to Information Act equivalent to Australia’s FOI Freedom Of Information Act.

India’s educational system produces 500,000 technical graduates and two million other graduates each year.

India’s services sector is growing at 9% to 10% per year acting as a catalyst for other sectors of the Indian economy to grow rapidly.

60% of India's population is below 20 years old.
So how can you, a small entrepreneur in Australia, use this information to help your business profit? For starters, consider The Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi. In addition the 3rd Commonwealth Youth Games 2008 will be held October 12 to 18, 2008 in Pune. There will be more opportunities for small business related to this additional games venue.

Work will begin on the 2010 games next year in 2007 and will include a very large amount of money invested in and around Delhi. In addition to areas for sporting events, the entire city is to be given a facelift to include roads, power plants, and public transport.

Something to consider is the possibility of games-related items like flags and souvenirs to the massive local population. More than 15 million people live in Delhi compared to only 3.7 million in Melbourne, the site of very successful games this past summer. That’s a really big market!

The Delhi events are on the heels of a very successful Indian sporting effort in the Melbourne games where India placed fourth. This momentum will carry over into the 2010 event and there should be some big money opportunities in tourism, sports, and related industries. To follow developing opportunities around these games visit their Website on a regular basis.

If you have products or services that may require licensing or other commercial rights, the time to start is now because some items may be salable right now, especially in the wake of the very successful Melbourne games where India had a major part in closing ceremonies. You may apply for these here.

Studies show about 86% of Australia’s exporters are SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises). Wholesale trade accounts for almost 40% of SME exports and New Zealand is the largest recipient. But here comes India; in the 1990s, India was our 25th largest export partner—now it is our number 12 partner with $2.9 billion exports of goods and services in 2003, the latest data available.

A few export products SMEs might consider are food items like honey, apples and pears, and fruit-based confections. More information on food-related exports may be downloaded here.

As a small entrepreneur you should be looking at exporting. Because so many businesses like yours are doing this, it seems to be an excellent way to increase sales of your products and services. If you aren’t exporting but want to see how it works go here. Here Austrade and its New Exporter Development Program (NEDP) will guide you through every step, including how to determine if you should even be in the export business.

Austrade also provides a sales lead data base. You must register to access this and meet several requirements, but the service is free and helps you find foreign customers for your business. You can get into this lead list here.

Yank is a home-based entrepreneur and freelance business writer living in Hurricane Alley, North Carolina, USA. His Website is http://www.furriwhalesworld.com/. Contact Yank at globalbiz@furriwhalesworld.com.