Regional insights

Winter 2021 Update

The first half of 2021 has seen Victorian exporters continue to pursue opportunities in South Asia. With the support of the Victorian Government Trade and Investment (VGTI) offices in Bangalore and Mumbai, exporters have had success in sectors from education and training to beauty and health.

Coronavirus crisis continues to improve slowly in India with states beginning to lift restrictions. The IMF projects that India’s economy will grow by 9.5 per cent in the 2021 Indian fiscal year, above the 6 per cent forecast global economic growth and recovering from India’s negative 7.3 per cent growth
in 2020.

Business success stories

• Victorian edtech and digital wellness company, TALi Digital launches its Indian platform via Times of India. The two apps — the TALi app and TALi TRAIN — are designed to improve the attention skills of children aged three to eight, to
  support their ability to listen, learn and focus on tasks at home and at school.
• Xentrix Studios, one of India’s leading animation houses expanded to Australia with the acquisition of Viskatoons, Victoria’s longest running animation house. The new entity
  in Melbourne, Xentrix Australia will create and produce unique content for the global AVGC industry.
• In the last quarter Swisse Wellness has continued to grow in India by listing on three local eCommerce channels, ShopClues and Vegandukan as well as healthcare platform GoQii Health Store,
  demonstrating the growing breadth of the eCommerce sector in India

Victorian industry sectors profiled in India

The VGTI is growing awareness of Victorian products, services and capabilities by undertaking targeted digital campaigns in India that profile Victorian companies. These campaigns profile Victoria’s strengths  in emerging sectors including beauty and wellness, edtech, gaming, energy tech and
medtech on various digital platforms including LinkedIn, YouTube, Industry Features,
Instagram, and podcast platforms.

Leading Victorian health and beauty brands introduced to India via Virtual Trade Mission

Global Victoria ran a Beauty and Skincare Virtual Trade Mission to India in March 2021 which saw twelve Victorian brands introduced
to offline and online channels, including Amazon India, Purplle, Nykaa, Shoppers Stop, Tata Cliq, and distributors, including Beauty Concepts and Luxasia. The brands took part in a masterclass on the regulatory landscape in India, presented by a leading consulting firm, as well as a session on the impact
of digital marketing in India by a leading PR firm.

The Indian beauty, skincare and cosmetics market has witnessed a strong growth in the last four to five years with international brands flocking to get a slice of this burgeoning market. Victorian brands have shown a strong interest in the market
on the back of the success of brands such as Swisse, Goat Soap, Natio and Sukin. The growth of Indian ecommerce channels, such as Nykaa, Purplle, and the reduction in costs of regulatory approvals have further stimulated interest from exporters and importers in the sector.

Strengthening relationships between Victorian education providers and South Asian schools

From September 2020 to April 2021, the VGTI convened a first-of-its-kind professional development workshop series for school academic guidance counsellors. The series of seven workshops connected 250 school counsellors from India, Sri Lanka
and the Maldives with Victorian education and training institutions to provide training in career advisory and advice on supporting students with education opportunities in Victoria.

The South Asian schools were selected on the basis of diversity of region, curriculum, and engagement. Victorian universities, TAFES, schools and edtech companies engaged with the school counsellors to build awareness of Victorian education and training offerings and provide information on admission processes.

They also delivered specialist professional development training on subjects including career planning and vocational guidance, critical thinking and creativity, dealing with addictions, mental health, internet safety, cyber bullying and supporting children with special needs.

Given the strong take up and positive feedback from the workshops, the VGTI will explore expanding the series this year.

Global Gateway helps businesses to expand across South Asia

On 29 March 2021, the Victorian Government announced the Global Gateway grant recipients, with 26 businesses receiving assistance to expand their business to markets across South Asia.

The companies are from a diverse range of sectors, from education and training, retail, food and beverage to manufacturing. The team from Global Victoria's Melbourne headquarters, and the Bengaluru and Mumbai VGTI offices look forward to working with these companies to realise their export ambitions in the region.

Global Victoria Women (GVw) India alumni share their achievements

One year on from the inaugural Global Victoria Women’s Summit in Melbourne, Victoria’s Commissioner to South Asia met, virtually, with the Indian delegatesTasneem Fatima, Harini, N Rana, Rohini Rau, Kranti Sarma, Aahna Mehrotra , Keerti Singh, Pallavi Jain, Shiji Sunil and Ayushi Gudwani.

The supportive group of professional women shared their recent achievements, their ongoing connections with Victoria and their tips on mental health and wellbeing management over the last year while navigating some of the difficult and very personal impacts of Coronavirus.

Recent achievements from the cohort include:

► Pallavi Jain scaled up her business, Krsnaa Diagnostics, to deliver over 1,000,000 COVID-19 tests and the first mobile testing bus.

► Shiji Sunil supported the introduction and testing of new technologies to enable more mobile workforces in the animation industry.

► Ayushi Gudwani has re-shaped her specialist women’s workwear company, Fable Street, to deal with work from home.

► Harini Rana will join the International Cricket Council’s Future Leaders Program in recognition of her sports broadcasting contributions and talent.

Victoria extends its ongoing support for international students

About 80 per cent of enrolled students from South Asia remain in Victoria. The Victorian Government announced on 7 June an additional $30 million package to ensure critical help – including food and financial support – is made available to communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

The package also expands Foodbank Victoria’s mobile food van service across the state, reaching vulnerable groups such as casual workers and students, as well as extending Foodbank’s pop-up international student supermarket in the Melbourne CBD until December 2021.

Summer 2021 Update

Victorian businesses continued to connect and pursue business opportunities with South Asia throughout 2020. While there are still challenges ahead, economic activity in major South Asian economies continues a steady return towards pre-coronavirus levels and vaccination plans are now in place in each
country in the region.

The economic outlook for 2021 is positive and businesses will be able to capitalise on the changes to business practices and consumer behaviour that took place in the region in 2020.

This update provides insights into opportunities in India’s newly released Australia Economic Strategy, India’s 2021 Budget, growing opportunities in the innovation and tech sector, recent business successes and the support Global Victoria will continue to provide Victorian businesses through virtual trade missions, the Global Gateway program and other events.

Business success stories

• Swisse continues to expand its e-commerce presence in India, with Swisse products now listed on NewU stores, which service 36 cities in India. Swisse is also growing its market presence through cross-promotional partnerships with complementary B2C businesses such as CRED, CouponDunia, Fitternity and ICICI
  Bank.
• Sunpower Renewables launched its solar energy products on Amazon India, further expanding its presence in the India market.
• ECAL, the world leading calendar marketing solution, went live on the Indian Premier League team the Delhi Capital’s website and is partnering with India’s largest fantasy gaming platform, Dream11.
• TALI Digital, Victorian health and education company, signed an investment and advertising agreement with Brand Capital International (BCI) of the Bennett Coleman Company (Times Group) from India.
• Chisholm Institute has partnered with Cinec in Sri Lanka to deliver vocational training courses in Sri Lanka in ICT and engineering.

Technology sector activities

• The Hon Martin Pakula, Minister for Trade, joined the Prime Ministers of Australia and India in attending the virtual Bengaluru Tech Summit in November 2020, Asia’s largest technology event. Minister Pakula showcased Victoria’s technology strengths and the growing opportunities for collaboration and innovation between Victoria and India.
• Nine Victorian edtech companies collectively secured 18 pilot programs to demonstrate and test their products in the Indian market. Global Victoria partnered with the India Didactic Association (IDA) to promote Victorian edtech companies to IDA’s extensive school membership base and secure the pilots.
• Twelve edtech companies from Victoria participated in the Victorian Virtual EdTech Trade Mission to India in January and February 2021. The program included business matching and introductions to education distributors and strategic partners. As part of the mission, companies exhibited at The International
  Education and Skills Summit (TIESS) organised by the IDA and the Education World Forum. Victoria was a state partner for the TIESS virtual summit.
• Startupbootcamp and Global Victoria partnered to deliver the first Victoria India Smart Energy Exchange connecting Victorian startups with Indian corporate partners Bosch, GE, Schneider, Shell and Tata Power, and giving
  them access to special support from Victoria’s SunPower Renewables and Mr Manoj Kohli, Country Head of Softbank India and Asia Society Victoria Distinguished Fellow.
• Global Victoria led the first digital games trade mission to India virtually, in partnership with Creative Victoria. The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA), the Australia India Institute and Creative Victoria produced the first report on Opportunities in Video Games between Victoria and India.
• La Trobe University and T-Hub are partnering through La Trobe’s Global Market Access Program to help startups enter the Indian market. AusIndustry has provided funding
  for the program and Global Victoria helped facilitate the partnership. The first cohort in 2020 supported four Australian startups: Trainer (Victoria), TBH Pets (Victoria), Anidra (Victoria) and Tekuma.

Global Victoria Women (GVw)

The Global Victoria Women program of events continues to support women in international business. Leading Indian businesswoman and Victoria’s Business Ambassador in India, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw AO, joined the GVw Female Business Leader Virtual Seminar in 2020 event to share her insights. Watch the video.

Digital gaming is an exciting new area of opportunity

The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) and Australia India Institute released their collaborative report on Fostering Opportunities in Video Games both Between Victoria and India
in January 2021. The report draws on consultations with Indian and Victorian industry stakeholders and highlights three main areas of opportunity:

• joint ventures combining different experience and production capacity to produce sophisticated games;
• collaboration with Victorian education providers to support skills development in India’s gaming sector; and
• partnerships to support market entry.

Companies explored these opportunities in 2020, when Global Victoria and Creative Victoria led the first Victorian digital games trade mission to India for the India Game Developer Conference 2020. The mission supported 11 delegates from Victorian gaming companies, startups and industry associations to understand the Indian market and pursue emerging opportunities.

India’s Australia Economic Strategy demonstrates India’s commitment to engagement with Australia and identifies its priority areas for trade

The Indian Government launched India’s Australia Economic Strategy in December 2020 outlining the trade opportunities from India’s perspective. The Indian Government commissioned India’s Ambassador Anil Wadhwa and  the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to develop the strategy in response to Australia’s India Strategy, which was authored by Peter Varghese AO and released in July 2018.

The strategy provides a comprehensive list of sectors of interest to India and chapters on opportunities with each Australian state including Victoria. Most notably for Victoria, the strategy’s focus sectors include agribusiness, biotech, education, healthcare, mining and resources, technology and services, pharmaceutical and biotech, power and renewable energy, and railways. The emerging sectors include education technology, sport and sports technology, textile and textile designing, water management, and digital gaming and animation.

The strategy’s implementation chapter makes 27 recommendations, including increasing CII’s presence in Australia, reactivating an Australia India business leaders’ forum and continuing negotiations for a free trade agreement.

India’s 2021 Budget provides a plan for economic revocery, including a new agriculture development tax

The Indian Government released its 2021 Budget on 1 February 2021 with a strong focus on regaining economic growth lost since the onset of coronavirus. Health, infrastructure, education, innovation and foreign investment attraction are the main areas of focus
in the Budget. The Budget will increase the Government’s capital expenditure to 2.3 per cent of GDP in India’s 2021 financial year and 2.5 per cent in the 2022 financial year. India’s fiscal deficit will also increase in the short term to support recovery and stimulus efforts. The Budget estimates it will reach 9.5 per cent in the 2021 financial year before setting the target of reducing it to 6.8 per cent in 2022.

An area of interest for Victorian exporters is the Budget’s Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC), which brings in a new tax on a range of products including food and beverage products to help fund infrastructure development in the agriculture sector. The AIDC will apply to a range of products including alcoholic beverages (100%) crude soyabean and sunflower oil (20%), apples (35%), peas (40%), Kabuli chickpeas (30%), Bengal gram/chickpeas (50%) and lentils (masoor) (20%). However, on same items, the Indian Government states that the cess will be offset by reductions in the customs
duties.

Please seek professional tax advice to understand how these changes may impact your business’s exports.

Winter 2020

Victoria’s relationships across South Asia remain strong and there are many businesses continuing to enter the market and grow their businesses.

While the impact of coronavirus on the economy cannot be underestimated, it is important that potential exporters look beyond the general statistics and assess the particular sectors they are working in and impact to their target sales channels.

The virtual Australia India Prime Ministers’ Summit was a significant development in Australia and India’s relationship – and a sign we can continue to connect despite travel restrictions. The Summit demonstrated both leaders’ commitment to a close relationship and a number of new initiatives to enhance economic ties.

Another important development is the Indian Government’s approval of its New Education Policy, which will reshape all tiers of India’s education system and create new international partnership opportunities.

This update highlights opportunities from these developments, India’s contributions to the global coronavirus response and successful outcomes for Victorian companies in India’s edtech and e-commerce sectors.

Coronavirus impact in India and the Indian health sector’s contribution to the global response

Coronavirus impact in India and the Indian health sector’s contribution to the global response India has unfortunately now recorded some of the highest cases of coronavirus alongside the US and Brazil.

However, its per capita recorded cases remain relatively low compared to other countries. The World Health Organisation situation reports capture the extent of the cases and highlights the work happening across the country to increase testing and health responses. As such, India continues to maintain restrictions across the country since March 2020. The restrictions have however begun to ease in certain areas and on movement between states in a staged manner.

At the time of writing, a ban on international travel remains in place except for special exemptions. When travel can take place, travellers are required to undertake quarantine based on each state’s relevant protocols. For details on current restrictions refer to the Indian Ministry for Health and Family Welfare and Australia’s High Commission in India.

The Indian Government’s Ministry of Statistics reported its economy contracted 23.9 per cent over the second quarter of the year from April to June 2020. This was more than any other large economy, although closely followed by the UK’s economy, which contracted by 20.4 per cent, and the EU at 12.1 per cent.

All major sectors contracted except India’s agriculture sector which grew 3.4 per cent in the period. Bloomberg’s economists reported that the Indian Government has taken a more conservative fiscal approach than other countries throughout the restriction period, which has deepened the economic contraction.

In addition to its domestic response, India’s health and biomedical sector is playing a vital role in supporting the global response to the pandemic, contributions include:

• India manufactured and supplied internationally 2.3 million PPE kits in July alone in addition to its production for domestic use.
• The Indian Government approved the export of made-in-India ventilators in August, lifting restrictions to ensure domestic supply put in place in March 2020
• India’s National Research Development Corporation transferred two COVID-19 technologies related to active respirator mask and long-lasting nano sanitiser for mass production in July
• The Drugs Controller General of India approved Phase II+III trials of Oxford University vaccine (COVISHIELD) in India in August.
• Department of Biotechnology’s supported COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D, begins phase I/II clinical trials, becoming the first COVID19 vaccine being developed indigenously to be administered to humans in India (Link) in July.

India’s new education policy

India’s National Education Policy 2020 was released in July this year. It’s the first comprehensive policy proposal on education in the country since 1986 and a major, game changing statement. The policy aims to make changes across all levels of education – from early childhood to university and is based on the pillars of “access, equity, quality, affordability, accountability”. Implementation of the policy will enhance the opportunities for Victorian universities and education providers to partner and collaborate with the Indian education sector.

Read the full policy via the India Ministry of Education.

• Learn more about the latest education market developments and opportunities for Victorian providers at Global Victoria International Education market insights.
• Watch Global Victoria’s In-Market Insights video featuring the Regional Director of Education from our VGTI office in Bengaluru, India, Annie Santhana share her expertise on emerging opportunities in India for Victorian education providers.