inzbc summit 2015 : event report

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EVENT REPORT

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INZBC Summit 2015 | 12-13 March 2015 | Crowne Plaza Hotel, Auckland

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Key Highlights:

The Summit this year was a 2 day event.

Attended by 40 heads of companies from India.

First time ever in NZ a large contingent of Indian Busi-

nesses came to our shores for direct trade talks.

Key Business delegates were from :

Confederation of Indian Industries [CII]

JCurve

ETI Dynamics

Toonz Animation Ltd.

The Summit is hailed as the start of the dialogue by in-

dustry experts.

Day 1: B2B meetings and presentations by Indian dele-

gates

Day 2: Day long summit ending with networking cock-

tails by The Could.

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Brief Snippets of the Speeches

T here are well over 100,000 New Zealanders of Indian origin who have come and lived in New Zealand.

“President Obama went to the India National day and first of the U.S. Presidents to go to Delhi for India National Day. And it is second time he has been to India as President. So amongst everything he has to do, he went deliber-ately to India. So, why did he go? I think of two reasons. Firstly, because what India says and what India does matters unlike a lot of countries. They might think they matter, but in reality, when it comes to India, it matters. And secondly, there is absolutely no doubt that from an economic perspective, United States sees real opportunity in India and vice-versa. If you look at New Zealand, the same situation is absolutely true. What India says to New Zealand matters and economic opportunities are massive.”

there is a big Indian population in New Zealand and they form the basis of our connection. It is not just at the business level. Even at the grassroots level, there is a strong connection. That matters because we understand each other and it matters because people advocate on each side. So when we say FTA matters, With the countries with whom New Zealand has FTA, there is no question that New Zealand’s economic opportunities with those countries have grown. India’s FTA with New Zealand is challenging for the agricultural sector and it is always challenging.

The New Zealand China FTA has boosted trade to $20 billion from $8 billion with a target of achieving $30 billion in the next few years. India has massive scales and the is no question of massive opportunities in India. Capturing just a tiny fraction of that market, is massive from New Zealand’s point of view. India’s FTA will only really happen, when Indian companies lobby with the Indian govern-ment.

FTA signifies long-term relationship and offers us with better tariffs. Looking at the industry delegation, there is a massive crossover with representatives from education to animation and anything in between; Stressed on services sector.

“We were European Union’s From New Zealand’s perspective, one of the chal-lenges we have is we are too China dependent. People in the room will know that I am still after that relationship despite the politics that collects on the way. Why? Because I think, it is good for New Zealand. New Zealand has the experience of being too dependent on one market. We were pretty much Britain’s farm in the South Pacific... The long-term risks to New Zealand would be where we get to a point we become totally China dependent and for whatever reason, one day something happens to the relationship which is completely beyond our control. We have to have diversification and New Zea-land companies have to have diversification… India obviously presents a big one.” We will take a group with us and press along and “with or without FTA we will do business together” and “long-term relationship will be very strong.”

“We will take a group with us and press along and with or without FTA we will do business together and our long-term relationship will be very strong.”

Rt. Hon. John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand

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[Mr. Nilekani earlier met with officials at Callaghan Innovation and innovators.] “One thing which struck me was they were not thinking about is scale, which is nat-ural.” In my last assignment, 600 million were given IDs and close to 1 billion will have an ID by December 2015. “You need scale to be able to reach 1 billion people, lower costs and achieve automation.” New Zealand has many solutions that are innovative and sophisticated, but it has to be reconfigured to be a relatively low-cost and high-volume solution. New Zealand’s advanced policy in telecommunications and healthcare are “clear examples” of potential areas of collaboration between business houses of the two countries, Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys and former chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India, said. While New Zealand has innovative, sophisticated solutions which Indian companies could benefit from through partnerships, the solutions have to be reconfigured and architecture modified to bring down costs and cater to a bigger population. “New Zealand has a lot of innovators and innovative products that could be helpful for India,” he said, adding that if challenges of ramping up scale is achieved, then people in India will start to look at New Zealand businesses as partners. It will require a change in mindset to bring businesses of these two countries to-gether with rethinking required on architecture, costs and scalability.

“New Zealand’s advanced policy in telecommunications and healthcare are “clear examples” of potential areas of collaboration between business houses of the two countries”.

Nandan Nilekani, Former Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India and Co-Founder Infosys

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T ime and again we have heard predictions that India will likely be the fifth largest economy by 2025. Further, latest GDP predictions -- show India is ex-pected to grow at an average rate of 7.5% over the next five years. We in

New Zealand are positioned to make ourselves counted as part of the India growth story and as truly India’s global partner. We are moving in the right direction. We all know that New Zealand India relationship is also defined by so much un-tapped potential. Recently, and yesterday, we talked about Free Trade Agreement. Yes, we want an FTA and we want it at the earliest opportunity. However, equally we all agree that the purpose of an FTA is to boost trade and commerce between the two countries. We should keep a positive approach and focus on the haves rather not on the have-nots. INZBC is a 26-year organisation with an objective of facilitating business between the two countries. India has remained New Zealand’s one of the top trading partners. We want to build relationships. We do not need an FTA to do that. By the end of 2014, trade between the two countries was $1.6 billion -- making it New Zealand’s sixth largest export market. However, trade between the two coun-tries has serious room for improvement. Please do not take India and China as ho-mogenous data sets. Each represents its own sets of opportunities. Indian consum-ers are different and distinct from Chinese, Japanese and Korean. I call upon New Zealand’s business leaders to showcase our ingenuity, innovation and IPRs in businesses. By the time India establishes itself as the fifth-largest econo-my, New Zealand would have established itself as a trusted partner.

We are ready to help build smart cities that Prime Minister Modi calls on. We need to make sure that economic growth in both our countries is inclusive and sustaina-ble. India’s astonishing growth in recent decades has lifted countless millions out of poverty and created one of the world’s largest middle classes. Growth, in the end, has to make people’s lives better in real tangible terms… Lets make it possible for an young entrepreneur in a Tier-2 or Tier-3 city in India to collaborate with a Kiwi partner in Otago, Dunedin or Christchurch. Lets encourage Indian students who come to New Zealand Institutes to collaborate with a partner in India to develop new technologies to help develop products… Lets make it possible for Kiwi and Indian businesses to collaborate together and work across the board, to buy from one another, to invest in one another, to trade with one another and by doing so, lift the fortunes of one and all -- that’s the future, INZBC believes.

“Lets make it possible for Kiwi and Indian businesses

to collaborate together and work across the board, to

buy from one another, to invest in one another, to

trade with one another”.

Sunil Kaushal, Chair, INZBC

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A lot has been said about the possibility and potential of intensifying this relationship and I know it is a very very dear theme and priority for New Zealand to talk about the FTA.

… New Zealand would like to connect with big markets and reach out to seg-ments, which has the potential of buying its agricultural and primary commodi-ties and its services and initiatives, which other economies have been doing ex-tremely well. We acknowledge that trade with China and some of the other countries have picked up immensely. Whether that will apply to India has to be seen from the perspective of the Indian industry.

Please do appreciate that the Indian economy is largely dominated or at least the government is collaborating in partnering with the private sector. In the Chi-nese system, it is the state, which is the primary actor. Which means, if the state wants to buy a particular technology or partner with a company, it can do so. Chinese government and the treasury is strong enough to meet challenges. But in the Indian context, it is the private sector and the industry, which will have to bear the onslaught of upgraded technologies and goods of a superior kind, well we have to give the industry a chance. India is a democracy. If the industry, wants to take its time in getting into the FTA act, I think we have to respect it. We cannot impose, as Indian government, a regime which is working well with other countries. FTAs with Korea and Japan have not worked very well.

“So what we are saying is we will do the FTA, no one is saying we will not, but please let the industry be satisfied. Let us work it out, let us collaborate, let us try and tweak the standard model and what will be the difference. He spoke of an inclusive FTA which will encompass areas such as technology transfer.

Let us not make our engagement contingent to the outcome of the FTA, which will take some time as experts tweak to make it suitable for both countries.

“India is a democracy. If the industry, wants to take

its time in getting into the FTA act, I think we have to

respect it.”.

H.E. Ravi Thapar,

Indian High Commissioner to New Zealand

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P rime Minister Narendra Modi and his government has initiated a broad spectrum, multi-dimensional reform agenda strategically designed to set the foundation for sustained high growth. Today, India is widely believed to

have emerged as an economy of promise. Considerable opportunities abound across sectors offering much investment potential to Indian and overseas indus-tries. In the elections last year, for the first time one can remember, the entire theme and campaign of Mr. Modi and his party was development, growth and good governance. Generally it is more on populist lines, but the Prime Minister and his party adopted a very proactive and business-like approach last year and on that campaign they won a national majority in the lower house of the Parliament. Demographics -- India, today, has 1.25 billion people with 65% of our population below the age of 35, 52% of our population is below the age of 25, between the age of 15 and 35, we have 425 million people. In the forthcoming elections in 2019 and the voting age is 18, we expect about 130 million new voters. I think the Prime Min-ister and his team has captured the aspirations and the hopes of the young popula-tion of India and they have won on that theme. I think that is a very telling message of what the focus of the Prime Minister and his team is. With GDP expected to grow at 7.4% in 2014-2015, India will be one of the fastest growing nations of the world and all eyes will be on the Indian government to see how well it manages the economy. The Finance Minister’s recent budget announcements included several measures to restructure the economy. While the aim is to move on with fiscal consolida-tion...focus on reviving infrastructure. Several policy changes have been proposed.

Restrictions on foreign direct investment has been eased in key areas like Railways, Construction, Defence and Insurance. The idea is to expand the engagement of overseas investors in the Indian economy. Problems that have emerged in the fuel sector is being sorted out on an urgent basis so that non-availability of power does not become a constraint to growth. The government is following a multi-pronged strategy to improving access to fuel supply, improving the bankability of the pro-jects in the power sector and improving… with a greater focus on renewable energy sources. “As this new landscape takes shape, India has opportunity to position itself at the forefront of future economic growth as a leading investment hub for investment, human capital and innovation. On behalf of the industry, Prime Minister, we invite you to India with a business delegation and look forward to a lot more of business-to-business and people-to-people contact to carry the relationship forward. In CII, we look forward to working closely with the government in New Zealand, the High Commission of India and the India New Zealand Business Council to further the eco-nomic cooperation and partnership between companies in New Zealand and in India.”

“India offers a variety of opportunities to foreign

investors who can take advantage of this expanding

middle class and favourable demographics.”

Ajay S. Shriram

President, CII

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F or New Zealand to grow, the country needs trade. New Zealand needs to invest and grow internationally. “We do want to

and intend to deepen our global connections” with an objective to increase imports to 40% from 30% of the GDP by 2025. India is about emerge as the most populous country with expanding GDP, per capita GDP and demographic dividend. India will continue to influence New Zealand’s future.

We are a country made up of largely small and medium enterprises. Cost of research is high, trade barriers are high, which disproportionately bear down. “We deeply believe that our engagement will be demonstrably enhanced by a bilateral FTA, which is a tangible expression of interest.

While FTA negotiations will continue, with the 10th round of talks recently hav-ing ended, there is “a considerable distance to close,” but New Zealand hasn’t lost hope and hasn’t given up.

“India is about emerge as the most populous country with expanding GDP, per capita GDP and demographic dividend. India will continue to influence New Zealand’s future.”

Rupert Holborow,

Division Manager, Economic Division, MFAT

“Lets make it possible for Kiwi and Indian businesses

to collaborate together and work across the board, to

buy from one another, to invest in one another, to

trade with one another”.

Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII

P art of an industry delegation to New Zealand after 20 years, Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee said, “I am sure we will see more business and actual delegation coming to the country more frequently.”

There is “little connect” between educational institutions in India and New Zealand and engagement in this area has to be scaled up and trust created, he said. “we would like to enter into agreements with Universities (in New Zealand),” he sug-gested and take the level of collaboration to the next level. Advanced training pro-grams for skilled Indian manpower in New Zealand is another area of collaboration that could be explored, he added. In the area of food processing and agriculture, there is a scope for cooperation and Mr. Banerjee assured that he will try and have a business delegation visit New Zea-land in the future to explore opportunities in these areas. Mr. Banerjee also mentioned that electronic hardware could be a potential area where partnerships could be forged. “Electronic hardware is a challenge for In-dia...We will really look at hitech manufacturing from here.” He proposed having India - New Zealand Business Summit every year.

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Survey Feedback

We did an anonymous Survey post the event, as here are some of the

feedback points we got.

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Survey Feedback

We did an anonymous Survey post the event, as here are some of the

feedback points we got.

[This is a Word Cloud of the feedback. The larger the words, the more

frequent they appeared in the report]

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inzbc summit 2015 : event report

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