New Zealand wakes up to India's potential

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New Zealand wakes up to India's potential

Wellington, June 22 (IANS) New Zealand's business community has woken up, though somewhat belatedly, to the fact that business with India is not only profitable but also inevitable.

An article in the latest issue of the Global Indian magazine that comes out of New Zealand cites a recent seminar in Auckland titled 'India Ascends' in which over 100 participants were apprised of the huge potential for business that New Delhi's booming economy offers.

'We (in New Zealand) were late off the mark in realising India's potential,' the article quoted Paul Vaughan, New Zealand's Trade Commissioner to India, as saying in the seminar, organised by the India-New Zealand Business Council. 'But in the last 10 months alone, the workload at my office has doubled.'

The article listed out the reasons for the hype behind India.

For one, it is home to about 450 million middle-class people with growing purchasing power. India's return on investment is the highest in the world at 19 percent compared to China's (14 percent) because capital is efficiently used.

Sunil Ashra, area chairperson (Economics) and associate professor at the Management Development Institute, India, pointed out that the country records 7-8 percent growth despite attracting only a fraction of foreign direct investment compared to China last year.

Ashra also said that cost of doing business in India was also lower, with inexpensive labour and advanced telecommunications.

'The world's cheapest international call can be made from India,' Ashra was quoted as saying.

Vaughan, on his part, also pointed out that India's world competitiveness ranking had improved to 29th this year from 55th two years ago.

On the question of what language is generally spoken in India, something potential businessmen in New Zealand are curious about, Vaughan said: 'I haven't had to use any other language other than English in India. No other language is spoken across the country like English.'

The trade commissioner told the author of the article that many New Zealand companies are already doing business in India.

'You name a sector, and I'll tell you a list of companies there,' he said.

Among the sectors seen as offering huge opportunity to New Zealand business are IT, retail, health and biotechnology.

According to Malcolm Cone, senior lecturer, University of Otago, doing business in India was like a walk in the park.

'Business in China is dominated by state sector and overseas Chinese investors, where corporatist state prevails and network capitalism plays a vital role. India offers pluralist democracy,' Cone was quoted as saying.

And the future looks even more promising for the $650 billion economy.

'By 2010, India will be the only country in the world where the number of people entering the workplace will be more than people retiring. Indians don't start to age until 2030,' Vaughan asserted.

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New Zealand wakes up to India's potential