Australia
(Source : Consulate General of India, Sydney)

During Jan-Nov 2018, the balance of trade was heavily in favour of Australia. Australia exported merchandise goods to India worth USD 11.159 billion, while importing goods worth USD 3.741 billion from India. Indian merchandise Exports to Australia for Jan-Nov 2018 witnessed an increase of 5.3 % over Jan-Nov 2017. Whereas, during the same period Australia’s export to India increased by 4.5 %. The total merchandise trade between India and Australia was increased from USD 14.2 b to USD 14.9 b between Jan-Nov 2017 and Jan-Nov 2018, with an increase of 4.9 %.

During the reporting period, the top 15 commodities of export from India to Australia included Refined Petroleum, Railway vehicles, Medicaments, Pearls & precious stones, made up articles of textile materials, jewellery, passenger motor vehicles, women / girls clothing, articles of apparels & textile fabrics, floor coverings, manufactures of base metal, travelling cases and bags, fixed vegetable fats & oils, organo-inorganic compounds and equipment for distributing electricity, in that order.

According to the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE), Australia`s energy consumption has consistently risen over the past ten years at an average annual rate of 1.1 per cent. Australia`s demand for oil has risen steadily over recent decades, largely driven by increasing transport sector demand. Though energy diversification has taken place in all industries (including agriculture, industry, residential and commercial sectors), it has not changed in transport. While there been some uptake of electric vehicles in the light passenger sector and some electrification in the passenger rail and bulk rail freight sectors, most transport sectors and particularly heavy road freight, maritime and aviation transport are likely to remain wholly or largely oil dependent for decades to come.

In Jan-Nov 2018 period, export of Passenger Motor Vehicles from India to Australia increased by 109 % over Jan-Nov 2017 (with value of US$ 69 million) and ‘equipment for distributing electricity’ by 84 % during the same period (with value US$ 46 million). The increase in export of Passenger Motor Vehicles from India could be the impact of closing down of manufacturing plants of vehicles. In the last couple of years, many of the assembling and manufacturing plants of vehicles in Australia were closed down. The last in the line was ‘Holden’ (General Motors) manufacturing plant that was closed down in October 2017. There is still enough space for passenger motor vehicles in Australian market. Exporters / Companies could concentrate on this sector to increase their exports to Australia. The Consulate will be happy to assist interested companies in India.

Made in India railway vehicles featured as second highest export item from India to Australia during the reporting period. More than US$ 318 million worth of Indian made railway vehicles were exported with an increase of over 215 per cent from Jan-Nov 2017. New South Wales Government ordered 22 driverless metro trains of 6 coaches each built by Alstom in Sri City in India. The metro coaches, built for the Australian government, was the first of its kind India has ever exported. The new train is capable of being operated automatically through the Automatic Train Protection and Automatic Train Operation (ATP/ATO) modes with the help of Alstom’s Urbalis 400 communications-based train control (CBTC) signalling solution. The last of 22 Made in India trainsets from Alstom`s Sricity facility in Andhra Pradesh arrived in Sydney in December 2018. Also, Queensland Government’s A$ 4.4 billion Made in India train project by the Canadian manufacturer Bombardier for 75 trains have already been delivered.

Export of ‘Coal’ from Australia to India was the main contributor for the volume of bilateral trade between the countries for the period Jan-Nov 2018, with a value of USD 7.339 billion, amounting to 49 % of total bilateral trade in value terms. Exports of iron ore and concentrates from Australia witnessed huge increase in percentage terms. Export of iron ore and concentrates were to the tune of US$ 302 million with an increase of 1338 per cent over the same period.

Mozambique
(Source : High Commission of India, Maputo)

EXIM Bank of India financed USD 95 million for procurement of Railway rolling stock On 31st December 2018, Mozambican Ministry of Economy and Finance signed a Credit Agreement (CA) with EXIM Bank of India, for the procurement of railway rolling stock including locomotives, coaches & wagons. The Agreement was signed by the National Treasury Director and General Manager of the EXIM bank of India. Under the agreement it mentioned that 75% of the material should be purchased directly from the India, and the remaining 25% purchased in other countries. The Line of Credit would charge a rate of interest at 1.50% with maturity period of 25 including 5 years of moratorium. The concession of Indian credit comes at a time when the public company Mozambique Railways (CFM) aims to respond to the high demand for rail passenger transport registered in recent times. The LoC was sanctioned within a month which is one of the shortest possible time for the sanction process.

Venezuela
(Source : Embassy of India, Caracas)

Potential products of exports for India

Pharmaceutical products - Venezuelan pharmaceutical industry is severely affected by the lack of private investment and relies heavily on the imports for drugs and pharmaceuticals. India is one of the leading manufacturers and exporters of pharmaceuticals in the world and enjoys acceptance in the Venezuelan market due to its quality and competitive prices.

Auto-parts - India is one of the top manufacturers of auto-parts in the world. Venezuela is in dire need of auto-parts for all kinds of vehicles.

Oil and gas machinery and spare parts - Venezuela is in dire need of oil and gas industry machinery and spare parts to reactivate their oil industry. The Venezuelan oil industry uses machinery and parts which are US standards compliant, and India manufactures such items compliant with US standards at lower rates.

India – Venezuela relations:

Indian Crypto Exchange sees strong demand in Venezuela: According to an article published on News.bitcoin, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, informed through a spokesperson that it is “seeing immense enthusiasm and buyer activity in Venezuela and that Venezuelans are looking more at the longer-term yield of bitcoin”.  The article informed that the Indian cryptocurrency exchange “Instashift” was launched in February 2018 and began to roll out service in a slew of countries in November 2018, offering support for 45 fiat currencies. The spokesperson explained that “Venezuelans, in general, are of the thought that cryptocurrency is a safe haven to keep their store of value rather than keeping it in their own currency where inflation is peaking at the top”.

India to keep oil trade with Venezuela: According to media reports (oilprice.com & financialexpress.com), India would continue to trade with Venezuela, despite the ongoing crisis in Venezuela. Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaidó, the president of the National Assembly, declared himself interim president on 23 January 2019, and the United States supported him against Nicolas Maduro. India continues to be one of the main buyers of Venezuelan crude oil. The report indicates that Indian refiners keep buying more than 400,000 bpd of oil from Venezuela. The report added that in recent months, Venezuela has been the fourth largest supplier of crude oil to India, after Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). India imported crude oil from Venezuela worth US$ 5.8 billion in the financial year 2017-2018, while imports between April and October 2018 were valued at US$ 4.6 billion.