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India Business Forum - Auckland

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:00:00 -0600

India New Zealand Business and Trade - What does the future hold?

2011 has been a very significant year in India-New Zealand relationship with the opening of the Consulate General Office in Mumbai, followed by Indian Minister for Commerce Hon. Anand Sharma's visit in May and later in June the state visit of our Prime Minister Rt. Hon. John Key to India.

What does 2012 hold for our businesses wanting to expand in India? How will the Free Trade Talks affect us? As India looks at growing rapidly, are we able to cope with the growth? Are we resourced enough to cope with the supply and demand of this ever growing economy?

India New Zealand Business Council in association with High Commission of India - Wellington

Invite you to come and hear from Industry leaders on their challenges, successes and what their growth plans are for future in India.

Keynote Speaker :: H.E. Admiral (Retd.) Sureesh Mehta,

Indian High Commissioner to New Zealand

Date: Monday 14 November 2011

Time: Registration from 9.30am, 10am to 12 noon followed by lunch (please be seated by 9.55am for a 10am start)

Venue: Westhaven/Akarana Room, The Langham, Auckland, 83 Symonds Street, Auckland

Click here to download invite for RSVP

News Scroll

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 05:49:09 -0500

Contact Us

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:35:27 -0500

We would love to hear from you. Please do call us:

Prashanta +64 21 635819

Paul +64 21 2709113

Shayne: +64 21 582521

Seetharam (in India) +91 9845075953

You are most welcome to email us as well - we usually get back pretty quickly. Please email us at the email id below:

Sorry! you have to type it in - too many spamming programs out there scraping websites - we are sure you will understand. You can also use the form below.

We are located in New Zealand's capital city - Wellington. Our office in the heart of town has meeting facilities which are used regularly by our clients for meetings with us as well as workshops and think sessions.

The facilities are quite functional with excellent wireless Internet service, and our clients find that meeting and working "out of office" often contributes to thinking through and finding solutions quicker.

So do come down and visit us (please call beforehand so that we can be there!) and we will shout you some great coffee.

One of the ways we try serve you better is to listen to your feedback - so if you can spare the time, please share your views using the form below.

Free Trade Negotiations Underway

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:54:00 -0600

Speaking at the official celebration of India's 60th Republic Day, the Indian High Commissioner, HE Admiral ( ret'd ) Sureesh Mehta, PVSM, AVSM did say that a negotiating team is expected here in February and he spoke with such confidence that we were convinced that an official announcement was imminent.

This official word came from Hon Tim Grossor and Sri Anand Sharma, India's Commerce Minister at the World Economic Forum meeting at Davos on 1st February 2010. They announced the start of negotiations towards a free trade agreement between New Zealand and India.

The announcement follows years of hard work and patience by officials on both sides and many submissions made in NZ, through the process set up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). MFAT released the joint study report . We recommend a good read of this document.

Clearly, New Zealand's primary industries should take particular interest in the progress of the discussions. This is because India a a huge market for primary products, a simple example is Dairy. However, NZ has to be sensitive to India's socio-economic landscape.

India's dairy industry is both complex and highly political. Attempts to export New Zealand dairy efficiencies that would be perceived as detrimental to India's dairy farmers (with a reported average herd size of two cows) will be strongly resisted.

However, joint ventures that are aimed at improving India's milk production, milk quality and on-farm productivity which leads to improved village social and economic development has significant potential.

In this respect, one of the barriers to technology based collaborations was the cap on permitted royalty payments to foreign partner - a lump sum fee of US$ 2 million and royalty of 5% on domestic sales and 8% on exports. Beyond these limits, prior permission of the Government of India (Project Approval Board) was needed - complex and time consuming.

However, it is pleasing to see that India has decided to permit all (no cap) payments for royalty, lumpsum fee for transfer of technology, payments for use of trademark/brand name on the automatic route without any restrictions, and subject to FEMA (Current Account Transaction) Rules, 2000. You can see the official Indian Government notice here.

Indian companies will hopefully develop increased awareness of New Zealand, as the news of the start of the negotiations filter through the business circles. It will be good to see more Indian products in New Zealand - when one looks at trade figures - New Zealand is not really a small market in many sectors.

If you would like to get a commercial perspective on what this FTA means for your business and how you may prepare to take advantage of this FTA when it comes into place, we are available to speak to your decision makers, contact us.

Government Matters

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:52:00 -0500

New Zealand business looking for help with Indian regulations?

We keep an eye on the pulse of Indian regulations on a daily basis and are very proud of our ability to unpack and unravel the myriad of regulations at both central and state government levels.

Are you an Indian business looking to get help with New Zealand regulations and standards? We deal with these on a daily basis and can probide help on the ground here saving time and money.

New Zealand companies are often concerned about Indian buyers ability to pay and/or government regulations that allow them to pay straight up - we can help with current, authoritative advice on such matters saving a New Zealand seller or buyer time and money.

New Zealand has a highly developed standards compliance regime in respect of most products and services and it is useful for an Indian company to be fully aware of them so as to have a smooth path in developing the business in New Zealand. We can help.

We work on a regular basis with both New Zealand and Indian government agencies in addition to working with our networks in India, to keep up our knowledge and skills in this area of service provision.

Want some help with Government Matters relating to NZ-India trade? Need government relations and coordination services in India or New Zealand? contact us at any time.

Published and Quoted

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:06:00 -0500

We active in "giving back" and participate in export development activities working with government agencies such as the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and regional economic development agencies such as Nature Coast.

We are also active in the Indian diaspora and enjoy good working relationship with Indian Government functionaries in New Zealand.

We are proud to have participated as New Zealand's nominated business representative in the peak annual event organised by the Government of India - The Pravashi Bharatiya Divas.

This was in 2007 and you can read the proceedings here.

We participated actively at the first ever India-NZ business summit in October 2008 in Auckland, New Zealand. This article appeared in the NZTE flagship publication "Bright".

We wrote a small article for Kapiti business newsletter with the aim of raising awareness of India as a business destination. You can read this here.

New Zealand's leading management magazine interviewed us on "Indian Management Styles" and we shared our views, you can read this here.

We are happy to contribute our thoughts, knowledge and views on an India-NZ trade and business matter - please contact us.

Paul Swain on cricket and attack

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:06:00 -0500

A less known fact about Paul Swain is that he was a fairly consistent member of the NZ Parliamentary team. We don't mean in the Sachin class - but when you scale it all down to New Zealand and then within that Wellington and then within that parliament, we think he was on the rise but then he thought he will just let Sachin have his way for now.

Anyway, we convinced him to put his cricketing mind to doing business with India and it all came back to him! in fact he was so inspired that he offered his thoughts to the Institute of Directors, who were kind enough to publish it in the "Boardroom" - it is just a page and we think you will enjoy it.

You can read this here - best read printed.

The accompanying photo is that of an avid Sachin fan from India, sourced from here

Paul loves talking about India and if you would like Paul or anyone else talk to your business gathering about India-NZ trade and business matter - please contact us.

It is all about perceptions

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 07:00:00 -0500

It was interesting to read some recent reports about how Indians perceive Kiwi businesses.

In our weekly act of keeping up with the "Antipodes" we came across very interesting headlines like this:

"New research shows that Kiwis could do with lightening up a bit when trying to build relationships with their Indian business counterparts." - said the state owned TVNZ.

The press release on the NZTE website reported a former Trade Commissioner to India saying:

"Lengthy communication and negotiation is part of doing business in India and their business people really enjoy this aspect,"

"However, Indians seem to think Australians are more fun to deal with when it comes to business negotiations."

"This suggests New Zealanders need to take time to build long-term relationships in India and share a bit of laughter while doing so."

Perhaps there is something to learn here, and we carefully read through the full report (which incidentally covers perceptions about Kiwi business folks in other countries as well). Being aware of how your style of doing business and interacting with others will be perceived by people from different cultures can make the difference between success and failure in overseas markets.

It is a good report, though we don't agree with all of it - it does generalise about a rather large and diverse country - nevertheless a useful piece of homework.

You can read the full report on NZTE's website here. In case of any problems accessing, you can also find it here.

Other country reports (South Korea, Australia, China, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) reports are also available here.

We find it interesting that this research finds similar perceptions about Kiwi businesses across some quite dissimilar cultures - and worth thinking about when you do business overseas.

Anyway, in case you are heading north and would like a bit of business culture coaching, we do offer such a service - please contact us at your convenience - as early as possible before your planned trip.

Services for Indian businesses

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:52:00 -0500

New Zealand is not a small market ! Take a small example, she imported in excess of $100 million of electrical switching and circuit protection gear in 2008, not a lot came from India.

According to world bank, New Zealand is the second easiest country to do business in (and no, number 1 is not Australia!).

Consider another example, New Zealand is investing 10's of billions of dollars in civil infrastructure - roads, electricity and broadband.

This will drive a huge demand for products, expertise and capacity for the engineering sector and this is an opportunity for global Indian companies to add New Zealand to their footprint.

New Zealand also has a huge farming sector and we are the most sophisticated farmers in the world. We do have our own world class agri and dairy technology products, but also imports 100's of millions of dollars worth of products that support and enhance our dairy industry as well.

Finally, we are the world that defined new standards in digital content with the "Lord of the Rings" and now again with "Avatar" (funnily a word known to most Indians from an early age).

We can unlock this New Zealand opportunity for you, by working as your local office in the early days and doing contract business development work for you, providing value for money that avoids your having to make multiple and expensive trips to New Zealand.

We can also help organise local product launches and other marketing services, arranging meetings with key industry players, help with applications for New Zealand standards compliance.

Many large New Zealand government opportunities are globally tendered and we can offer cost effective tender response preparation and liasion services, on the ground and close to where the action is.

Give New Zealand a try - you will not be dissapointed.

Want to know more about how we can help your New Zealand business going ? contact us at any time.

India Sourcing

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:52:00 -0500

Are you a New Zealand company? Did you know that India can be a reliable source for products and services that can help you with your costs and time to market?

The opportunities for global-minded Kiwi companies are plenty. Sourcing from India not only helps with diversifying and lowering political risks of sourcing from overseas, it also very often is the catalyst that opens up the Indian market for the value added product produced from the sourced components.

You may know about India's IT talent but not about its other high value, high tech services capabilities that are underpinned by the 100's of thousands of qualified scientists and engineers she produces every year.

Global companies from USA, UK, Europe, Japan and Australia have been taking advantage of this Indian capability for years - it is perhaps time that Kiwis took a look.

The opportunities for manufacturers are abundant, not only in servicing the needs of this market but in creating products adhering to new business models that ultimately will ensure future global markets. A great example to study is that of one of New Zealand's icons - Fisher and Paykel Healthcare been in India for many years.

Are you an Indian company who thinks that New Zealand is too small a market for your products? and your "Australian" distributor will take care of "New Zealand" and deliver the true potential of the New Zealand market for you?

We think that you should take a close look at New Zealand again because while she does have similarities with Australia and it is DISTINCT market with distinct choices and a very distinct way of doing business. Incidentally it is one of the easiest economies to do business in, see graphic below (from World Bank).

Consider a simple example, New Zealand is investing 10's of billions of dollars in civil infrastructure - roads, electricity and broadband - this will drive a huge demand for products, expertise and capacity for the engineering sector and this is an opportunity for global Indian companies to add New Zealand to their footprint.

Want to know more about how we can help with sourcing industrial products from India or breaking into New Zealand with your industrial products? contact us at any time.