Author: Stephen Manallack

Former President, Australia India Business Council, Victoria and Author, You Can Communicate; Riding the Elephant; Soft Skills for a Flat World (published by Tata McGraw-Hill INDIA); Communicating Your Personal Brand. Director, EastWest Academy Pty Ltd and Trainer/Speaker/Mentor in Leadership, Communication and Cross Cultural Communication. Passionate campaigner for closer western relations with India. Stephen Manallack is a specialist on “Doing Business with India” and advisor/trainer on “Cross-Cultural Understanding”. He is a Director of EastWest Academy Pty Ltd which provides strategic advice and counsel regarding business relations with India. A regular speaker in India on leadership and global communication, his most recent speaking tour included a speech to students of the elite Indian university, Amity University, in Noida. He also spoke at a major Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) global summit, the PR Consultants Association of India in Delhi, the Symbiosis University in Pune and Cross-Cultural Training for Sundaram Business Services in Chennai. He has visited India on business missions on 10 occasions and led three major trade missions there. He provides cross-cultural training – Asia and the west.

With a World Cup cricket win, the lives of young girls in India are changing

A game such as cricket can change our society, and this is surely the case for girls and young women growing up in India.

The Indian women’s cricket team won their first World Cup, playing to a sold-out suburban Mumbai stadium of 45,000-seat capacity and drawing over 300 million views online.

Can you imagine how many girls are now dreaming of a sporting future?

In India, this win means women’s cricket is now standing on its own merit, and there will be millions of young women turning up to play the game – which in itself is a social change.

Advertising and sponsorships will flood in for this team.

But the powerful BCCI, India’s cricket governing body, must increase women’s tournaments so they have more game time and add Women’s Premier League teams to absorb new talent. Demand for local coaching and equipment will explode – and the BCCI needs to step up.

Change from the BCCI has been slow – for example, this week the board announced a bonus of 510 million rupees for the women’s team, less than half the 1.25 billion rupees it gave to the men’s team when they won the T20 World Cup last year.

They cannot ignore the level of “love of the game” among Indian women and cricket fans around the world.

Let’s hope for an India vs Australia final for the next women’s world cup!

Does Australia need to have a public holiday for Diwali?

As the Indian diaspora continues to grow in Australia, you can see Indian culture such as Diwali having a big impact in communities across the nation.

Australia is home to a rapidly expanding Indian community.

According to an MEA report, approximately 1 million Overseas Indians live in Australia. The Indian diaspora is the second-largest and fastest-growing in Australia. As of September 2023, there are 122,391 Indian students, making them the second-largest group of foreign-born students in the nation.

Meanwhile, in California, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 268 into law, putting Diwali on the list of 12 state holidays. The new law, which will go into effect next year, allows community colleges and public schools to close on Diwali, and state government employees can choose to take the day off.

Diwali is such a charming and engaging event – and celebrates the triumph of light over dark, good over evil – it is an uplifting message for our times.

INTO INDIA would love to hear from you – do we need a public holiday for Diwali?

India relies on a friendly USA for progress and peace – but Trump is making this difficult

INTO INDIA last month asked this question – can the USA-India releationship survive President Trump?

This month the answer is even less certain.

New Delhi has some fears on this front – knowing that India’s growing economy and innovation needs a friendly USA. Even more so, the India-USA relationship is a key to ensuring an Asia NOT dominated by China.

India wants agreement with the USA.

Without some effort from Washington, India will just have to find new relationships to secure its position in Asia.

 If India and the United States become more distant to each other, both would have a weaker hand to play when it comes to China.

India is anxious to reduce its reliance on China as a source of supply and also its reliance on the USA as a source of demand.

Trump is softening his approach to China while he goes harder on India.

There are serious levels of concern in New Delhi about this.

First, the China border problem continues to fester.

Second, both the USA and China are moving closer to Pakistan = which is also a volatile border for India.

Corporate India seems to have made up its mind – several of India’s largest corporations are seeking a presence or partnerships in China.

But political India continues to look for new friends.

Can the India-USA relationship survive President Trump?

We have just had 25 years of India and the USA gradually getting closer together.

But claims from US commentators that the two countries have “shared values” and “shared interests” have shown that they miss the point about India.

In the last 25 years India has been engaging with “the world” and has seen the USA as just one among many – it is today, for example, much closer than ever to countries like China, Japan and Russia.

When India joined the “Quad” (USA, Japan, India and Australia) it was celebrated in the USA (and to some extent Australia) as if India had “changed sides”. It had done no such thing.

In fact, within one week of attending a recent Quad meeting, Indian PM Narendra Modi was also high profile at the Shanghai Cooperative Organisation – the world’s largest regional organisation in terms of geographic scope and population, covering approximately 24% of the world’s total area and 42% of the world population.

At heart, this misunderstanding arises from the dramatic differences in world view of the USA and India. The USA and many of its partners see you as being on their side or against them. India, by contrast, takes a more universal view and sees many polarities, many arrangements and alternatives.

In addition, India is not generally evangelical on “democracy” and certainly does not see its mission as imposing democracy on others. It tends to accept others as they are.

Today India faces a 50% tariff from the USA, imposed, it is said, because India continues to buy oil from Russia, which is at war with Ukraine.

On this and other issues with the USA, India takes a quiet non-confronting line – understanding that anger is unlikely to work where reason has failed.

India’s favored policy of “Mult alignment”—seeking friends everywhere while refusing to forge clear single country alliances – is aggravating and confusing to Washington but is an obvious outcome of the Indian world view.

INTO INDIA predicts that the Indian response to Trump’s tariffs and rough tactics will lead to India seeking more diverse trade relationships and to be even more active in building multi alignments.

It’s just a matter of how you see the world.

What do you think?

Beyond the Hype: My Take on Navigating AI with Clarity


This is INTO INDIA with a difference – in this blog I am handing over to my friend Vinay Sarawagi who has written the clearest summary of how you should proceed with AI. Vinay is the Founder, The Media GCC | Mindful Media l AI Trust and Safety and is a former Senior Vice President – Digital at The Times Group.

READ HIS REPORT ON “BEYOND THE HYPE”:

Artificial intelligence is the most transformative tech of the century. This doesn’t change another fact: we’re in a hype cycle. Snake oil is being sold in AI’s name.

The Big Tech Reality Check

Organizations and governments are overwhelmed by AI. Smart money sticks to first principles.

Watch what organisations like Apple and Google do. When they slow certain AI implementations, despite hundreds of billions in revenue at stake, it tells you something critical. The technology shows bright sparks. It’s not there yet.

This isn’t about legacy companies being outpaced by emerging tech. Google has done more AI research than most universities combined. These companies aren’t behind the curve. They’re mindful of the gap.

When an AI startup claims breakthrough capabilities that Apple, Google, or Microsoft can’t match, take it with a bucket of salt. These tech giants possess both the expertise and cash reserves, running into hundreds of billions, to acquire any capability they lack.

First Principles in an Age of Disruption

Stop panicking. Avoid emotional responses that swing between overwhelming fear and outright denial.

Two priorities matter: educate yourself your teams on AI’s capabilities and limitations. Stick to your business fundamentals.

Market Psychology and the Innovation Cycle

Markets behave like human psychology. A decade ago, predicting a tech that could replace half of all jobs within 2-3 decades would have seemed absurd. Most believed fundamental innovations were complete. Only incremental progress remained possible.

Then ChatGPT arrived. A public-facing tool that gave everyone a glimpse into generative AI’s power. BOOM! Gold rush mentality.

Markets respond with boom and bust cycles. This process rediscovers the new normal. The challenge: distinguishing hype from real potential while living through it.

This requires a multi-dimensional approach. Grounded, pragmatic, sharp, incisive, data-driven. Also lateral and far-reaching. Finding the sweet spot demands all these perspectives simultaneously.

Separating Signal from Noise

AI will redefine everything we know about our world. True statement.

Today, a lot of AI marketing is snake oil. Also true.

Develop filters. Differentiate real capability from hype. Know what’s right for your business adoption strategy. Always return to first principles.

Strategic Implementation Framework

One week of data can blind you. One month isn’t much better. Long-term data matters. Qualitative benchmarks matter too.

When trillion dollar tech giants proceed cautiously, pay attention. Their restraint reflects deep understanding of current boundaries, not innovation failure.

The future belongs to those who harness AI’s power while avoiding its pitfalls.

vinay@thegcc.media

Australia has a record number of Federal MPs from an Asian background

Pictured is Zanetta Mascarenhas (Swan, WA), an MP originally from India

After the recent elections, there are now eight MPs from a South Asian background and six of Chinese background in the Australian Parliament – which now has a record number of MPs from Asia.

This is a good outcome – but they still only account for about seven per cent of the Federal Parliament compared with about 17 per cent of the population.

Good result – but we need more!

The governing Labor Party will now have six MPs with some Chinese ancestry in its federal ranks after the election, led by Foreign Minister Penny Wong who was the only Chinese background Labor MP in 2019.

They are pre-existing MPs Sally Sitou (Reid, NSW) and Sam Lim (Tangney, WA) along with the newly elected MPs Zhi Soon (Banks, NSW); Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Queensland); and Gabriel Ng (Menzies, Victoria).

 The Government (Labor) now also has four federal MPs of south Asian descent in incumbents Cassandra Fernando (Holt, Victoria) from Sri Lanka; Zanetta Mascarenhas (Swan, WA) from India; Varun Ghosh (WA Senator) from India; and newcomer Ash Ambihaipahar (Barton NSW) from Sri Lanka.

The conservative parties have two MPs of Indian background in NSW Senator Dave Sharma and newly elected Leon Rebello (McPherson, Qld). The Greens have a Pakistan background Senator in Mehreen Faruqi and former Labor Senator turned Independent Fatima Payman is from Afghanistan.

Incumbent Independent Vietnamese MP Dai Le (Fowler, NSW) was returned to Parliament with a small increase in support after an unusual diaspora election battle with Labor’s fellow Vietnamese candidate Tu Le.

This is now a record number of Federal MPs from an Asian background and possibly the largest number ever from a non-Anglo background.

Australia is a major MULTICULTURAL society, and this is beginning to be reflected in our Parliament.

(SOURCE – thank you to Asia Society Australia for the above data)

Things are changing fast in this world as India rises

You could say it has truly become a “funny world”.

Now we hear that one of the world’s leading quality car makers – Japan – is in the top five export destinations for Made-in-India cars.

Key exporters include Suzuki Motor Corporation and Honda Motor Company’s local units, which are increasingly positioning India as a production hub.

According to commerce ministry data collated by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), vehicle shipments to Japan rose to US$ 616.45 million in the first nine months of FY25.

Maruti Suzuki began exporting its Jimny Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) to Japan in January, signaling an acceleration of this trend.

Honda Cars India exported 45,167 units of its Elevate SUV, mainly to Japan, more than double its domestic sales.

Maruti Suzuki’s Fronx and Jimny SUVs are also available in Japan, with the Jimny generating around 50,000 orders within four days of launch.

Yamaha plans to export premium motorcycles to Japan, leveraging India’s lower sourcing and labour costs.

While my thought was “funny world” – my considered reflection was “well done India for entering one of the world’s toughest and highest quality markets”.

Growth in “sports culture” part of India’s push of soft power and hopes of hosting the 2036 Olympics

Now Indian PM Modi is chasing an Olympic Games for India

Sport is on the mind of the Government of Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi.

No doubt the next election he and the BJP face will have a big sports focus.

And words are being backed up by action – the Indian Government has a US$474 million sports budget this year.

PM Modi has always been ambitious for India – and his spending will create a sporting infrastructure boost to underpin the India push to host the 2036 Olympic Games.

A future Olympic Games could capture the minds and pride of Indians everywhere, including the large Indian diaspora here in Australia.

PM Modi recently stated that India’s soft power will grow with the development of a sports culture. Speaking at the inauguration of the Khelo India Youth Games, he highlighted the government’s focus on modernising sports infrastructure with the goal of hosting the 2036 Olympic Games.

A significant portion of the US$ 474 million sports budget for the year is being allocated to this purpose.

India has submitted a Letter of Intent to the International Olympic Committee to host the Games and is competing with countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Korea, Indonesia and Chile for the hosting rights.

The sports budget has increased more than threefold in the past decade, with over 1,000 Khelo India centres now operating across the country, including more than three dozen in Bihar.

Australia has been doing well via cricket – opening new training facilities and programs in India and chasing other collaborations.

PM Modi’s big sports spend shows the timing is good for all areas of sports in Australia to get over to India and actively participate in this growing sector.

Does “trade detached” India have an edge in the trade wars?

Countries now turning to India

India should ride out the current global “trade wars” better than the world’s biggest exporting economies.

In fact, India’s “trade detached” economy now has new opportunities.

India can now fast-track trade agreements with the EU, UK, Australia and Canada, while deepening ties with China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and Asean.

It also has much to gain from reforms, such as simplifying its own tariffs, making a smoother goods and services tax (GST), improving trade processes and applying fairer quality controls.

India is the world’s fifth-largest and fastest-growing major economy.

India’s vast domestic market (around 1.5 billion people) has fuelled its growth.

All of this means India has a lower exposure to global goods trade.

With export-driven economies slowing down under tariff pressure, and India continuing to grow at 6%, it looks well placed.

“Trade detachment” is turning into an advantage.

Critics have often described global trade systems as simply colonialism in disguise – partly accounting for why India does not focus too much on trade

But “trade detachment” has come at a cost – between 1951 and 1981, per capita income grew at a sluggish pace of just 1.5% a year.

1991 is celebrated in India as the turning point.

Between 2002–03 and 2011–12, India’s exports of goods and services surged six-fold, soaring from $75bn to over $400bn.

Consider how huge this is – per capita income grew more in the first 17 years of the 21st Century than it did throughout the entire 20th Century.

This is the miracle of modern India.

However, the “make in India” program has struggled, yet also had impact as global countries move to diversify from China.

Now the European Union is reaching out to India.

In the scramble for reliable trade partners, India is suddenly attractive.

India is available – but are WE capable?

Here is the paradox – Indian growth means there is demand for almost every product and service – but Australian business is not over there selling hard.

Perhaps we Aussies do not have an export mentality?

This was one possible reason canvassed today when I met with Leigh Howard, CEO of Asialink Business.

We agreed that there is still a need to sell the vision of exporting to India.

Asialink Business is really about building “Asia capability” and is keen to do more for the SME sector. You can sign up for an online “Doing Business with India” session this coming Wednesday here – https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/business/course/academy-intro-india/

We also discussed how our universities could be paving the way for the rest of us to make it in India – their presence is now “bricks and mortar” and both Melbourne University and Deakin University are showing the way.

So, are you capable? Sign up now.