On Saturday India’s Minister for Commerce referred to himself and Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan as brothers. For his part, Mr Tehan says the relationship with Piyush Goyal is the closest he has with any trade minister.
For years, Australian trade officials would ask for tariffs to be eased only to face difficult questions from their Indian counterparts about when Australia would accept India’s people. Finally, progress has been made on that front with a move toward mutual recognition of professional qualifications and an allowance for Indian students to stay on longer to work after they graduate.
India is wary of such agreements with developed nations after deals with Japan and South Korea fell short of some expectations. But Australia could prove to be a happier hunting ground, says Srikanth Kondapalli, dean of the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. “The Modi government is focused on the social costs, but there can still be collaboration and, in a few years, we could see some lifting of those tariffs as well,” Dr Kondapalli said.
“When we went to India as children during the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, we used to spend hours in customs as they went through our bags, checking to see we weren’t brining in any foreign goods,” recalls Harish Rao, executive director of the Australia India Chamber of Commerce.Foreign investment has increased as reforming zeal eats away at India’s fabled bureaucracy.