The Hindu : Australia seeks cooperation in IT sector

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 10, 2002

Business

Business

Australia seeks cooperation in IT sector

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI DEC. 9. Cooperation in information technology (IT) between India and Australia cannot reach its full potential except on an equal partnership basis because the cost structure of the Australian IT industry is different from that of the U.S., says Neville Roach, Chairman of the Australia-India Business Council (AIBC).

Mr. Roach, who visited here early last week as part of a multi-sector business delegation from the New South Wales state of Australia (capital: Sydney), said the IT manpower costs in Australia were only half that in the U.S. Hence, the practice of getting many IT tasks executed entirely offshore in countries like India, which was being adopted by American companies, was not suitable for Australia.

Also, the advances made by the Australian IT industry in application software for sectors such as telecommunications, mining, financial services and ecology would be increasingly relevant to the Indian IT industry as it seeks to expand its domestic market. Hence it would be ideal if cooperation in the IT sector between Australia and India is developed on the basis of equal partnership, with both countries sharing the business, Mr. Roach told The Hindu.

Mr Roach, who hails from western India and had migrated to Australia in the 1960s, is Chairman of Fujitsu Australia Ltd. Besides being head of the AIBC, which has 80 corporate members, he was till mid-January this year Chairman of the Council for a Multicultural Australia and had played a leading role over the decades in advising the Australian government in evolving policies and institutions to strengthen multiculturalism in the continent-nation which, till only a few decades ago, had adopted a "whites only'' policy.

Mr Roach said that even now Australia and India had "not given enough attention to each other,'' as a result of which a misleading stereotype image of the two nations prevailed. For instance, many Indians still tended to look at Australia mainly as a "sports-loving, relaxed and laid-back'' society and were unaware of the advances in industry and technology, including IT, that it had achieved. Similarly, Australians by and large looked at India essentially as an underdeveloped or developing nation and in the case of IT, they wrongly believed that India's role was mainly in the lower-end of the sector, he added.

He said New South Wales represented the biggest economy among Australia's provinces, accounting for 40 per cent of national GDP. Forty-five per cent of all tourists to Australia ended up in NSW. Many national and multinational corporations had located their headquarters in Sydney, which was also home to two out of the four leading Australian banks and the country's biggest stock exchange. The present government in NSW had decided to encourage economic ties with India, while traditionally NSW's focus used to be on East Asia. Many leading Indian companies had set up base in Australia, including in NSW.

Mr Roach said Australia believed in free trade and removal of trade barriers because its domestic economy was narrow compared to that of the U.S. and the European Union (EU) and it needed export markets, which could not be accessed without opening up on the home front. Australia had taken major steps to opening up its markets for textiles, clothing and footwear (TCF), though this had cost a lot jobs. Similarly, in recent years, it had initiated opening up of its automobile sector.

The Australian Minister for Trade, Mark Vaille, was expected to visit India in February 2003 accompanied by a large delegation, Mr. Roach said.

According to A. K. Tareen, Manager, Austrade, Chennai, the NSW delegation was headed by Loftus Harris, Director-General, NSW Department of State and Regional Development, and Mr. Roach. Products and services in which the delegation members were involved included non-invasive and hands-free monitor of cardiac function, mine management technologies, application-specific packaging solutions, leak detection equipment, swimming pool accessories, logistics management, wines, plastic display products, indoor air quality management and dried decorative flowers.

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