A delegation of Indian businesses representing industry bodies – TEXPROCIL – The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council, Council For Leather Exports – India (CLE), Carpet Export Promotion Council (CEPC) and Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) from India, recently showcased their export offerings for the Australian market at the Global Sourcing Expo at the International Convention Centre in Sydney (ICC Sydney). The delegation was co-hosted by the Consul General of India in Sydney and the Australia India Business Council (AIBC).
This was one of the largest delegations from India, of more than 40 companies, looking to explore collaboration leveraging the Australia India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AIECTA) agreement based on bilateral opportunities.
Rakesh Kumar Choudhary from TEXPROCIL, who was part of the delegation mentioned that India is working on developing its own cotton brand ‘Kasturi’ with inputs from Australian technology.
The AIBC also organised B2B sessions along with Australian Chapter of the ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) Sydney representatives with several of these companies to match them with market opportunities and potential supply chain partners in Australia.
Speaking with The Australia Today Consul General of India in Sydney, Mr Manish Gupta, said that this was the first such delegation from the textile, home furnishings, leather goods and carpet sectors from India to come to Australia after the signing of the Australia India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement. He added that there are huge opportunities here and that he was hopeful that these Indian products will make a huge impact in the Australian market.
With reference to the textile and leather sectors, National Chair of AIBC, Jodi McKay, told The Australia Today that as the market expands and grows, Australian businesses who have traditionally focussed on China in these two sectors, need to be brave and come out of their comfort zones to look at new way of doing things
National Chair of AIBC, Jodi McKay, speaking with Pallavi Jain
Irfan Malik, National Associate Chair & President NSW, AIBC said that it was great to see the interest and drive from Indian businesses across several industry sectors supported by the Industry bodies and Indian Government to engage with Australian market to explore business and market access pathways leveraging AIECTA agreement.
“Some of these opportunities that have opened up are purely based on the people to people connect and have been facilitated by the Indian Diaspora led Business community. This has been a great example of leveraging the strong Indian Diaspora business networks in Australia.”
Further outcomes such as virtual buyer seller meet and market entry / launch activities are being organised to support these businesses added Mr Malik.
