Latest / Best of Business / Bharat Chawla: India NZ Business Council chair on India testing the waters on a trade agreement with New Zealand

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Bharat Chawla: India NZ Business Council chair on India testing the waters on a trade agreement with New Zealand · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks. It'd be
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  Speaker 2: So the hunt for the mythical free trade agreement with
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  Speaker 2: India continues, but here's some good news. India has started
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  Speaker 2: to sound out some of its largest businesses to hear
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  Speaker 2: what they think about that potential free trade deal with US.
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  Speaker 2: The Indian government sent an email to members of the
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  Speaker 2: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry asking for
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  Speaker 2: feedback on the idea of starting trade negotiations. So Badachala
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  Speaker 2: is the chair of the Indian New Zealand Business Council
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  Speaker 2: and joints. You now, how about it?
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  Speaker 3: Hi Andrew?
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  Speaker 2: How are you very good? This is good for New Zealand.
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  Speaker 2: It's a sign at least in the government. The Indian
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  Speaker 2: government's starting to ask businesses what can we do with
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's wonderful, wonderful news and it actually it
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  Speaker 3: took time, but it's getting getting somehow, a good, better
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  Speaker 3: idea for everyone.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, you say it takes time. We've been talking about
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  Speaker 2: this for at least seven years, so this might this
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  Speaker 2: might be the first step. But you know, are we head.
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  Speaker 2: Do we have another seven years ahead of us?
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  Speaker 3: I think if you see government, the current government have
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  Speaker 3: done a lot in last year by going to Indian
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  Speaker 3: building that relationship between diplomats and the government. If I
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  Speaker 3: take the six years before that were we're pretty much
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  Speaker 3: not not well in terms of the travel and discussion
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  Speaker 3: to the government. Is that correct? So I think that's
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  Speaker 3: that I'll discount that six years and said that this
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  Speaker 3: year has been wonderful or last year have been wonderful.
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  Speaker 2: Good that's true. Now if the private sector starts saying, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: we're a little bit interested, that would make things happen faster,
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't it.
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  Speaker 3: I think from an Indian Indian perspective, private sector gets
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  Speaker 3: a kind of a say to do it. So it's again,
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  Speaker 3: it will not happen immediately. I think I'm not saying
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  Speaker 3: that it will happen tomorrow, but it's a direction which
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  Speaker 3: we want to see and with coming months or years
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  Speaker 3: you will see more improvements or more positives in the relationship.
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  Speaker 2: So look, what exactly would India want to import from
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand? What could we sell them? What would they
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  Speaker 2: want from US?
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  Speaker 3: I think a lot of time, if you see I
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  Speaker 3: was in India two weeks ago. What they want is
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  Speaker 3: more about how we can provide the technology transfers or
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  Speaker 3: we can provide about investments in India in terms of
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  Speaker 3: manufacturing sector or even improve the tourism sector or other
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  Speaker 3: areas even against the primary industries are doing well towards
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  Speaker 3: getting to the direction of positivity.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you say saying manufacturing and you're saying technology because
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  Speaker 2: because we always instantly think you know, primary products meat,
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  Speaker 2: beef and milk and all the lamb and all that
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  Speaker 2: sort of stuff. But you're you're saying that the India
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  Speaker 2: will be more interested in how we make the meat,
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  Speaker 2: the beef, the lamb and the milk, then the milk
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  Speaker 2: and the and the beef.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm not saying that we don't want that with India,
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  Speaker 3: but like the Focus which has been working on that.
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  Speaker 3: What else news and can give so what we are
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  Speaker 3: doing with India now and we can improve on that.
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  Speaker 3: But if you see example of Racon which have provided
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  Speaker 3: the transmitters for the tand Ryan three space program, So
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  Speaker 3: there are a lot news and can offer. We have
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  Speaker 3: a good startup ecosystem, we have good tech tech companies
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  Speaker 3: or doing some work like road marking, in India. Software
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  Speaker 3: is done by a news and companies, so there's a
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  Speaker 3: lot happening. So we always called dairy or meat or kiwi.
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  Speaker 3: They are already working hard to get there, but we
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  Speaker 3: need to open more doors with India.
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  Speaker 2: Also, yes, I saw the photographs that India took of
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  Speaker 2: the Moon because they see a space so they sped
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  Speaker 2: a spaceship to the moon. And yes, we have some
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  Speaker 2: very good rocket engineers here and so we could help
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  Speaker 2: in many different ways. What could we offer India to
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  Speaker 2: make the deal more attractive because we already have pretty
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  Speaker 2: low tariffs internationally and with India. So what have we
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  Speaker 2: got that they could make them go? Oh goodat we're in.
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  Speaker 3: See if you see all the deals of India are
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  Speaker 3: also one of the lines of people movement. Example, we're
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  Speaker 3: talking about how many people we can travel from India
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  Speaker 3: at what kind of visa that they're making the process
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  Speaker 3: more smoother. At the same time, the technology which helps
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  Speaker 3: India to increase this productivity and we do have some
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  Speaker 3: good technologies to work on that. In terms of when
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  Speaker 3: we say daily farming, we talk about robotics in giving
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  Speaker 3: fruit picking or apple fruit picking. So there are things
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  Speaker 3: apart from what we are doing now. So if you
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  Speaker 3: see the Worksity is doing, or from AIRA is doing,
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  Speaker 3: or Apple and Peer are doing, they're doing great work.
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  Speaker 3: But some more sweetening can help things get there. I
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  Speaker 3: can see that.
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  Speaker 2: So with all this good news that the Indian government
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  Speaker 2: has asked for consultation from private companies and how they're
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  Speaker 2: feeling about things, do you think it's realistic to think
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  Speaker 2: we might really start real negotiations in the next couple
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  Speaker 2: of years.
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  Speaker 3: I think we should start faster than that. I can
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  Speaker 3: say that'd be because see India also is looking for
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  Speaker 3: more partners. If you see India five years ago was
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  Speaker 3: different to what it's today, they are doing faster deal signing.
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  Speaker 3: If I say currently there are around ten to eleven
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  Speaker 3: agreements are in discussion within there with other countries, so
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  Speaker 3: they can if they want to do a free trade
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  Speaker 3: agreement or they want to do any comprehensive agreement, they
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  Speaker 3: can sign in one year to eighteen months. Also, well,
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  Speaker 3: Lisia is fast now.
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  Speaker 2: That is great and let's helped her because I think
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  Speaker 2: we'd be great friends together and we do some good
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  Speaker 2: business together. And Baratta, I would like to thank you
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  Speaker 2: very much for your time today. That's Barachala, who is
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  Speaker 2: the Indian New Zealand Business Council Chair.
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