The Hindu Business Line : Australia wants to invest in Indian retail sector

Chennai March 16 Australian companies are eyeing the Indian retail sector for investments. According to Mr Aminur Rahman, Australian Consul-General and Trade Commissioner for South India, Australian retail companies are keen on providing services to Indian hypermarkets.

They would primarily focus on technologies related to tracking supply, stock management and product scanning, he said.

"The $12-billion Indian retail industry is growing and there are not many small stores evolving into hypermarkets. Once there is a sizable number of hypermarkets in India, many Australian companies would enter the sector," he told Business Line on the sidelines of a workshop on Australian visa procedures and business opportunities, here on Friday.

When asked if Australian companies were interested in retailing their products in Indian stores, he said an Australian food and beverage company had recently test-launched some of its food products such as cereal, muesli and pasta in a retail grocery store in Bangalore. "But Australian companies are not very keen on retailing their products here as the domestic market is very competitive," he said.

Other sectors of interest to Australian companies are building construction and design, aviation, medicine and healthcare, fashion, art and jewellery. Earlier, inaugurating the workshop, Mr Rahman said that the Consulate was in talks with Qantas, Australia's national airline, to start direct flights between India and Australia, preferably Chennai and Melbourne. Air India is also looking at starting a direct flight to Australia by the end of this year, he said.

On the over $8-billion bilateral trade between the two countries, he said the share of services vis-à-vis commodities was growing. "There is huge skills and manpower shortage in Australia and we are encouraging more Indian information technology companies to set up offices, especially on the East Coast (the Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne belt)," he said.

More Stories on : Retailing | Foreign Direct Investment

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Posterscope India re-branded Percept Out-of-Home

JB Group to enter hospitality sector

Kinetic's Gudi Padva offer

Idea Cellular SMS contest

`Franchising, a way forward for brands'

Australia wants to invest in Indian retail sector

David Jones sizes up local apparels

ICICI, Subhiksha launch food card

`Expanding in Europe may see more acquisitions'

2 Star channels in HK

Navneet launches new products in Gujarat

New Bolero launched in Kerala market