Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce #AustCham India

Australia India Business Council (AIBC) in collaboration with The Consulate General of India Sydney (CGI Sydney) hosted a Business Conclave for our delegation at the Consulate. Welcome and Introductory remarks were by given by Mr. Irfan Malik (MAICD), President – AIBC NSW. This was followed by Special Remarks by Mr. Nirav Sutariya Consul (Commercial) & HOC, CGI Sydney and Ms. Petula Thomas, CEO, IACC. We were also fortunate to have Dr. S Janakiraman, Indian Consul General in Sydney address the gathering and meet with our delegates. The IACC delegates and AIBC members shared their focus areas and business interests. Many thanks to the Consulate for providing their Business Lounge and hosting our delegates to have their 1-1 meetings at this brand new facility. Thanks to James for coordinating this and for the support he and the teams at AIBC led by Irfan and the Consulate provided. anil wadhwa | Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa | Gitesh Agarwal | Arun Miranda | Ajay Sethi | Himanshu Srivastava | Shine James Varghese | Vinod Daniel OAM | Venkateswaran Palat Krishnan | Mohan Rajamani | Nikhil Arora | Atish Kumar | Shashank Huliyar Shivaram | Tarun Gupta | Benugopal V.V. | Shreyas Jayasimha | Nandha Gopal | Vallabi A | Adithya DH | Jodi McKay | Sheba Nandkeolyar | Ram Gorlamandala | Sudip Bhattacharya

We began Day 3 of our Business Mission, in Sydney with an excellent high-level focused session/networking with global engagement managers hosted by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) at their Global HQ. Welcome remarks were delivered by Mr. Alvin D'Almaida, Manager Resources and Energy, Austrade which also included a presentation on Australia’s Critical Minerals capabilities. Introductory remarks were delivered by Ms. Petula Thomas, CEO, IACC and Ambassador anil wadhwa, IACC’s Northern India Chapter Chairperson (co-leaders of the Business Mission). This was followed by presentations from Austrade on Agifood by Mr. Craig Young, Consumer Trade, Green Economy, Net Zero priorities by Mr. David Shao, and a very informative presentation by Michael Hellman on Why Australia and Investments. Mr. Jay Watkinson, Assistant Director, Centre for Australia-India Relations (CAIR) spoke on what they do on business engagement. The session concluded with a morning tea and networking. Thank you to John Southwell, Shruty Saini and team for supporting this. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa | Gitesh Agarwal | Arun Miranda | Himanshu Srivastava | Shine James Varghese | Vinod Daniel OAM | Venkateswaran Palat Krishnan | Mohan Rajamani | Nikhil Arora | Atish Kumar | Shashank Huliyar Shivaram | Tarun Gupta | Benugopal V.V. | Shreyas Jayasimha | Nandha Gopal| Vallabi A | Adithya DH | Tim Thomas | Swati Dave | Monica Kennedy

Thanks to Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ) for hosting a Welcome Reception at the Queensland Parliament House. The Opening address by Ms Jennifer Howard MP, Assistant Minister for Treasury, Trade and Investment, Government of Queensland, highlighted the strong and growing India-Queensland partnership. Ms. Sonia Sadiq Gandhi, Founder, IABCA welcomed the IABCA finalists and IACC delegates to the IABCA Immersion week. This was followed by a panel discussion on ‘What level of commitment is truly needed to realise the economic opportunities and benefits between Queensland and India?’. The panelists included Ms. Petula Thomas, CEO, IACC, Mr. Justin McGowan GAICD, CEO, TIQ, Ambassador anil wadhwa, IABCA Advisory Member & IACC’s Northern India Chairperson and Ms. Jacqui Price, Head of Marketing, the australian macadamia society. The Chamber also launched its Doing Business in India guide issued in collaboration with Baker Tilly ASA India LLP. Mr. Ajay Sethi, Managing Partner, Baker Tilly ASA India LLP spoke about the guide and how its useful for Australian companies looking to invest/expand in India. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa | Gitesh Agarwal | Arun Miranda | Himanshu Srivastava | Shine James Varghese | Vinod Daniel OAM | Venkateswaran Palat Krishnan | Mohan Rajamani | Nikhil Arora | Atish Kumar | Shashank Huliyar Shivaram | Tarun Gupta | Benugopal V.V. | Shreyas Jayasimha | Nandha Gopal | Vallabi A | Adithya DH | Ivey Cowie | Abhinav Bhatia | Annette D'silva | Shibu Mathews | Remya Mohanakrishnan

Business Chamber Queensland (BCQ) hosted our delegation, over lunch at their office. It was interesting to hear from two of the BCQ members BRAVUS and QUEENSLAND COTTON CORPORATION PTY LTD about their operations and the opportunities that exist in the India-Australia corridor. Thank you to Jacqui Donoghue from BCQ for organising this event. Ms. Diana Gueorguieva, Manager International Trade and Strategic Relationships, BCQ presented on their main activities and the traction they’ve seen following the interim trade deal ECTA. The Chamber’s CEO Ms. Petula Thomas spoke about the Chamber, focus sectors and how the chamber works in collaboration with key stakeholders from Government and industry in both countries. Mr. Tim Thomas, CEO, Centre for Australia India Relations (CAIR) provided a brief overview of CAIR as well as how companies can engage in the upcoming Summer of Cricket initiative. Ms. @Gabrielle Troon, Director - South Asia, Trade and Investment Queensland shared market insights on behalf of the Queensland government. We’d also like to thank her and Ivey Cowie for supporting us with our Brisbane program. anil wadhwa | Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa | Gitesh Agarwal | Arun Miranda | Ajay Sethi | Himanshu Srivastava | Shine James Varghese | Vinod Daniel OAM | Venkateswaran Palat Krishnan | Mohan Rajamani | Nikhil Arora | Atish Kumar | Shashank Huliyar Shivaram | Tarun Gupta | Benugopal V.V. | Shreyas Jayasimha | Nandha Gopal | Vallabi A | Adithya DH | Rachel Colaso | Jacqui Donoghue | Divya Aggarwal | Abhinav Bhatia | Annette D'silva | Shibu Mathews | Remya Mohanakrishnan

We kicked off our 21st Business Mission to Australia, in #Brisbane, Queensland with a site visit to an active member of the Chamber The University of Queensland. The Chamber’s CEO Ms. Petula Thomas delivered opening remarks and spoke about the Chamber and its 20 delegates representing various sectors and from multiple cities in 🇮🇳 . This was followed by insightful presentations from Ms. Dallas Dowsett, Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor – Global Partnerships; Mr. Janardan Kewin, Regional Manager (South Asia) at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law; and Dr. Veronica Nolan DCI, Senior Entrepreneurship Manager at UQ Ventures. The team from UQ led by Melinda Knox, Dr. Shaun Chen and accompanied by Saravanan Nagarathinam and Ridham Taggar took the delegates on a precinct tour across the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture, Information Technology and UQ Innovate. Thank you to Ashwin Sreekumar, MBA - UQ, Serena Yeo and Georgi Cahill for making this happen. anil wadhwa | Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa | Gitesh Agarwal | Arun Miranda | Ajay Sethi | Himanshu Srivastava | Shine James Varghese | Vinod Daniel OAM | Venkateswaran Palat Krishnan | Mohan Rajamani | Nikhil Arora | Atish Kumar | Shashank Huliyar Shivaram | Tarun Gupta | Benugopal V.V. | Shreyas Jayasimha | Nandha Gopal | Vallabi A | Adithya DH | Abhinav Bhatia | Annette D'silva | Shibu Mathews | Remya Mohanakrishnan

IABCA is delighted to announce that Petula Thomas, CEO, Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce, will be the FACILITATOR for the panel session Digital Transformation across sectors: Lessons from Australia and India - A Panel Discussion supported by Business NSW for 2024 IABCA GLOBAL LEADERS FORUM, taking place on 14 August at 12.45PM, Yallamundi Rooms, Sydney Opera House. Petula Thomas is the dynamic CEO of the Indo- Australian Chamber of Commerce, where she spearheads initiatives to foster robust business relations between India and Australia. With a vision to bridge the economic and cultural gaps between the two nations, Petula leverages her extensive experience and innovative strategies to drive the chamber's mission forward. Join us as we explore groundbreaking insights and strategies shaping the future of business and innovation. Save the date and stay tuned for more updates. Commonwealth Bank Deakin University South Asia Australia India Business Council Export Council of Australia NSW Government HomeWorld Group of Companies Australia India Chamber of Commerce (AICC) Australia India Institute Invest India Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce High Commission of India, Canberra, Australia Ministry of External Affairs, India Australia India Youth Dialogue Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) Australian Government Suzlon Group Cricket Australia HCLTech Business Council of Australia Indian Link Centre for Australia-India Relations Invest Victoria Government of Western Australia Trade and Investment Queensland Indiaspora Elumina Business NSW Powerhouse Australia-India CEO Forum

Announcing key leaders for our IABCA Global Leaders Panel Session: Digital Transformation across sectors: Lessons from Australia and India - A Panel Discussion supported by Business NSW IABCA is delighted to announce that Petula Thomas CEO, Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce, will be the FACILITATOR for this panel session for 2024 IABCA GLOBAL LEADERS FORUM, taking place on 14 August at 12.45PM, Yallamundi Rooms, Sydney Opera House. Hear key insights from David Harding Executive Director Policy & Advocacy, Business NSW ; Ifham A. Ahsan, CEO & Founder Elumina eLearning ; Dr Rachna Gandhi (PhD) , Chief Transformation, Digital & Data Officer, Ramsay Health Care ; Ravneet Pawha Pahwa, Vice President (Global Alliances) & CEO (South Asia), Deakin University Australia ; Sonia Eland Executive Vice President & Country Leader, ANZ, HCLTech Don't miss this engaging discussion on fostering Digital Transformation across sectors ! Commonwealth Bank Deakin University South Asia Australia India Business Council Export Council of Australia NSW Government HomeWorld Group of Companies Australia India Chamber of Commerce (AICC) Australia India Institute Invest India Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce High Commission of India, Canberra, Australia Ministry of External Affairs, India Australia India Youth Dialogue Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) Australian Government Suzlon Group Cricket Australia HCLTech Business Council of Australia Indian Link Centre for Australia-India Relations Invest Victoria Government of Western Australia Trade and Investment Queensland Indiaspora Elumina Business NSW Powerhouse Australia-India CEO Forum Daniel Hunter Swapan Johri

Our CEO Petula Thomas enjoyed catching-up with Vinod Daniel OAM, CEO India Vision Institute (IVI) and Representative Council member of the Chamber. IVI is one of the delegates on the Chamber’s upcoming business mission to 🇦🇺 from 12-17 August. They work across 23 states to enhance eye health accessibility to the remotest corners of India, with a focus on preventing avoidable blindness 👏💫

Great discussion today with Petula Thomas, CEO of the Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce #AustCham India (IACC)! Exploring ways to work together and empower connections between the Indo-Australian business communities. Stay tuned for exciting developments! #IndoAustralia #BusinessCollaboration #IACC

We had an engaging virtual meeting with members earlier this week – an initiative by our Business Advisory leadership forum and Northern India Chapter. Petula Thomas CEO, IACC delivered welcome remarks, setting the context and the objectives of this leadership forum that was launched last July at the Australian High Commission, New Delhi. Ambassador anil wadhwa Chairperson of IACC’s Northern India Chapter highlighted the main sectors where there are huge opportunities to further enhance collaboration/trade diversification between India and Australia. Among other points, Ambassador Wadhwa emphasised that India has the manufacturing scale and demand growth which can rival China's dominance in global solar policies, collaboration in defence, research & development and manufacturing between Indian Shipyards and Australian Ship building industries, as well as between our space agencies and private players. He also spoke about the opportunity for both countries to enhance collaboration in areas like capacity building and vocational training, that requires recognized degrees, hiring of skill professional caretakers such as healthcare workers and nurses. The Co-chairs of our ‘Business Advisory Forum, Pratik Jain, Lead Partner, PwC and Geoff Alcock, Managing Director, MSS Security presented on ‘Thinking about growth in India’ and spoke about the ‘’Make in India initiative supported through regulatory reforms, digitized systems and progressive policies catalyzing industrial and infrastructure development, States in India offering varied initiatives over and above those by the Govt of India as well as undertaking multi-pronged approaches to attract GCC’s through sectoral policy interventions, fostering high -end talent and boosting research- oriented ecosystem. This was followed by an interactive Q&A session that was moderated by Ms Thomas. Gaven Standon Petula Thomas Pratik Jain Geoff Alcock Mohammad Athar Karan Rohra Adithya DH