INDIA - AUSTRALIA BUSINESS SUMMIT - 2015

India - Australia Business Summit-2015: “Powering Growth Together” was organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the Government of Australia on 12th January, 2015 at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi. Dr. Sahab Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies from Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida attended it as a delegate.

The event began with the welcome message of Dr. Ajay S Shriram, President of CII and Chairman & Sr. Managing Director of DCM Shriram Ltd. The chief guests Honorable Mr. Andrew Robb, AO MP, Minister of Trade & Investment, Government of Australia, Guest of Honor, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India, Honourable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Sh. N Chandrababu Naidu graced the occasion.

After formal inauguration ceremony Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India presented keynote address and expressed his sincere thanks to CII and Australian Trade Commission for their joint efforts to organize the event. Mr. Pradhan assured the audience that Government of India is committed to make its green laws rational and effective and working actively on resolving long-pending bottlenecks regarding Foreign Direct Investment.

Further Mr. Pradhan added that India whole-heartedly welcomes Australian investors to invest in upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of oil & gas industry and hydrocarbon business for a bright tomorrow.

Mr. Andrew Robb AO MP, Minister of Trade & Investment, Government of Australia, opened the CII India-Australia Business Summit-2015 and explained that India has enormous opportunities with 1.2 billion population and Australia is interested to join hands together by offering much to its economic development. Moreover, he stated that Australian Government is ready and willing to work with India in several sectors to transform its economy into the great economic powers of the world.

Mr. N Chandrababu Naidu, Honourable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, stressed upon good relationship to boost the trade and collaboration with Australia and invited them to invest in Andhra Pradesh especially in energy, mining, resources, infrastructure and financial sectors. Mr. Naidu confidentially assured the investors that around 80% of sea voyage passes through Andhra and 50% export from India is done through it. Mr. Naidu also added that after getting a special package from the central government of India Andhra Pradesh will become a pioneering state in development in all spheres.

Mr. Michael Bruce Baired, MP, Premier, Minister for Infrastructure and Minister for Western Sydney, talked on “New South Wales and India Capitalizing on the Opportunities”. Mr. Baired called this talk an opportunity for the investors to gain a perfect return on investments by contributing reciprocally in the development of Indian economy.

In the second session there was a discussion on Investment - Innovation & Research and Education. The first speaker Mr. Grame Barty, General Manager for Growth and emerging Market Division, International Operations Group, Austrade emphasized on the collaboration in industry based global education to make people skilled and ready for fulfilling the needs of industry.

Mr. Peter Hodgson, Pro Vice Chancellor, Deakin University, presented his views on “Australia’s Innovation R&D Credentials Partner Opportunities with India” and highlighted the industrial policies of Australian Government which helped in creating entrepreneurship and innovation at large.

Mr. Sabyasachi Dasmohapatra, CEO, Global Innovation and Technology alliance, remarked on the contribution of industrial R&D funding to the Indian educational institutions and requested the Government of India to make some effective reforms and bring them in application with immediate effect to overcome the bottlenecks of innovation.

Mr. Craig Roy, Deputy Chief Executive of CSIRO, expressed his firm belief that Australia is always engaged in the innovative activities and is destination of innovation. He enthusiastically recommended that India and Australia must join their hands to strengthen this sector by collaborating together.

A panel discussion on “Australian Science and Technology Expertise Benefitting India” commenced under the moderation of Mr. Grame Barty in which Prof. Ian Young, VC of Australian University, Mr. Arun Sharma, Deputy VC of Queensland University of Technology, Mr. Linda Taylor, Pro VC of International University of Western Sydney, Mr. Kavan Peries, GM Corporate Development of Telstra, Mr. Peter Leihn, Team Director of National ICT Australia, Dr. Anil Wali, MD of Foundation for Innovation and Technology, IIT Delhi and Dr. Sandhya Chintala Vice President & Executive Director (Skill Council) of NASSCOM participated and planned to start some new projects in this direction.

The event came to an end with closing remarks of Mr. Barty followed by high network lunch and site visits to a few high-status industries of NCR.

Summit provided a healthy and commendable platform for business representatives and policymakers of both the nations and helped to understand each other’s perspective for projecting new opportunities for a fruitful business co-operation in India.