It's time for Australian businesses to develop long-term relations with India: minister

Australia is open for business with India and it is time for the Australian businesses to develop long-term relations with the Indian partners, a senior minister has said.

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham, who is leading a major business delegation to India from February 24 to 28, will hold bilateral meetings with key ministerial counterparts during his four-day visit.

In an official statement, he said that the aim of the mission will be to help open new doors for Australian businesses with a focus on education, tourism, health, resources, infrastructure and premium products - food, wine and beauty.

"We want to make sure Australian businesses are front and centre as India's economy grows over the next 20 years," he said.

India's economy is "rapidly transforming", predicted to be the third largest in the world by 2035, and this presents huge opportunities for Australian businesses across a range of export sectors, the minister said.

"India's aspirational middle class – already 12 times the size of Australia's population – is also growing rapidly, and now is the time to position Australian businesses so that they can develop long-term relationships with Indian businesses, supply chains and investment partners.

"Australia's premium produce, our high-quality education and tourism services and our innovative infrastructure, energy and agribusiness solutions are well-placed to meet India's needs into the future," Birmingham said.

This will be an important opportunity for Australian businesses looking to pursue greater export and investment opportunities to better understand how to do business in India and to form relationships with Indian industry and government leaders, he said.

"It's this type of engagement, experience and knowledge that will be absolutely crucial if Australia is to realise our India Economic Strategy goal of making India one of our top three exporting markets by 2035.

"Getting the message out there that Australia is open for business and that our tourism businesses want Indian tourists to visit will also be a major focus,'' he said.

"India is one of our fastest growing tourism markets and with the women's T20 cricket World Cup on right now and the men's tournament on later this year this, we will be encouraging Indian cricket fans to book a ticket, watch a few games, and also get out into our regions to explore the incredible tourism experiences on offer," Birmingham said.

Australian businesses from priority sectors of education, tourism, energy and resources, and food and agribusiness are a part of the delegation which will visit New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

The visit is part of Austrade's Australia-India Business Exchange (AIB-X), a multi-month programme of events to deepen trade, investment and tourism engagement between the two countries.

India is Australia's eighth-largest trading partner and fifth-largest export market, with two-way goods and services trade valued at USD 30.3 billion in 2018-19.