'We are now keen on India'

The state now wants to make sure that Indian ICT companies set up shop in

this throbbing Aussie business hub that includes the city of Melbourne. To

cement better business relationships between the two, Victorian premier Steve

Bracks was in Bangalore to meet with leading Indian IT and biotech companies,

and also to interact with the Karnataka government. He spoke to Priya

Padmanabhan of CyberMedia on how Karnataka and Victoria could channel their

synergies for mutual benefit.

What has been the outcome of your visit so far?



The Victorian government has signed a MoU with the Government of Karnataka

to establish strong links between the two regions in areas like education, ICT,

manufacturing and biotechnology. Other possible areas include aerospace and

design.

Can you elaborate on the trade office, which will be established in

Bangalore?



The trade office will come up in around six months to a year's time. We

want to create a direct link for Indian companies to invest in Victoria. The

volume of trade between the two countries is around $480 mn every year. We want

to ensure that India's ICT industry continues to choose Victoria as its

preferred investment location and the office will act as the link.

What are the reasons for selecting India as a trade partner especially in

IT?

Steve Bracks

IT, in terms of business engagements and partnerships in Australia, has

largely been oriented towards the US. Since the last five years, that

orientation is changing. Now we are oriented towards India and I want to be at

the forefront of it. I'm the first head of state from Victoria to visit India.

If you look at the top 15 IT companies in India, nine of these have operations

in Victoria. Infosys alone has around 600 people in Melbourne. There are also

other companies like Satyam, TCS, Wipro, Patni Computer Systems, Perot Systems,

etc.

What are the advantages that Victoria offers vis-à-vis the rest of

Australia?



We are the innovation capital in Australia. We are strong on biotechnology

and have good long-standing medical research institutions. Victoria contributed

about a quarter to the Australian economy. Almost half of all biotech companies

in Australia are concentrated in Victoria. We make up for around one-third of

Australia's ICT workforce. The reason we have chosen to partner with India is

because these are the strengths that this region sees for itself as well.

Gaming, animation and film pre- and post-production are other strong areas.

What kind of business opportunities can Indian IT companies go after in

Australia?



There are a lot of IT services opportunities in areas like automotive,

imaging, energy and utilities, manufacturing, and BFSI. Government projects and

activities are also quite big there. Australia is very open to outsourcing and

we are very mature in that area.