Indian IT Exports to Australia

Indian IT exports to Australia have been growing at a fast pace since IT and IT enabled services have boomed in India. In 1999, the Australian IT market was growing at a rate of 12% p.a and was valued at US$ 13 billion. The Indian IT exports to Australia amounted to A$ 374 million in 2006. It has been observed that the sale of IT and software services has been increasing in Australia and this has encouraged Indian IT exporters to Australia.

According to the Australian press there is a shortage of IT professionals in Australia to the tune of 35,000. Indian IT exporters to Australia pounced on this opportunity since it implied for them, a huge market to explore. Indian IT companies do prefer America and other European countries to set up offices but it is not that Indian IT exports to Australia have been neglected. Indian IT exporters to Australia have set up a large number of offices in Australia. Some of the Indian IT companies which have set up there offices in Australia are:

• Infosys
• NIIT
• TCS
• Kale Consultants
• Fujitsu
• Pentafour
• Satyam
• Aptech
• Polaris

All these companies are involved in execution services, implementation, and project management. Most of the projects implemented by these companies are huge and very sophisticated. The India- Australia joint business council meeting was held in Melbourne in 2000 which was attended by all the local Indian software companies. The Australian organization for trade and promotion investment, AUSTRADE also feels that there is a huge potential for growth in Indian IT exports to Australia. A joint working group was also set up on science and technology by the two countries to give Indian IT exports to Australia a major boost.

Australia is a major end user of IT and it is looking for intellectual skills from the Indian software sector, since today India is one of the world leaders in this sector. The Information Industries Task Force set up by the Australian Government visited India in December 1997 in order to increase Indian IT exports to Australia.

The major difficulties faced by Indian IT exporters to Australia is that it is difficult to get work in Australia without reference. This is because a lot of work is given on the basis of references and word of mouth. Another complaint is that an individual has to pay a very high percentage of tax. Even today, the American market attracts more Indian IT professionals than the Australian market because of the exchange rate (1A$ - Rs 27).

The governments of both the countries have to see to it that Indian IT exports to Australia continue to gather speed and do not stop. For this to happen, both India and Australia have to make collective efforts.