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.

India and Australia have a trade relationship that can grow

A great source of information about Asia is ASIALINK here in Australia – and for those interested in India their INDIA STARTER PACK is valuable.

Australia’s economic relationship with India has expanded significantly in recent years – particularly exports of minerals and energy, as well as our provision of education services to tens of thousands of Indian students.

We now have the basis to do more. It will take some marketing creativity and a realisation that brand “Australia” goes down well in India.

Two-way goods and services trade between Australia and India totalled AUD 27.4 billion in 2017. Major Australian exports to India included coal (AUD 9.2 billion), education-related travel (AUD 3.4 billion) and vegetables (AUD 1.38 billion). Our main imports from India were refined petroleum (AUD 1.6 billion), medicines (AUD 335 million), pearls and gems (AUD 274 million) railway vehicles (AUD 199 million).

The total value of Australian goods exports to India for 2017 was AUD 15.7 billion, making it our fifth-largest goods export market. We exported an additional AUD 4.4 billion in services to India, a figure primarily made up of education-related travel services and other personal travel.

Time to review your India market entry strategy? Let’s talk.

India’s Adfactors PR chief sets out a post Covid-19 reputation strategy

Madan Bahal, Managing Director, Adfactors PR, (pictured above) has said that both startups and mature companies have to navigate the post-COVID-19 world through effective communication and reputation management.

I would agree, and add that when you join climate change, Industry 4.0 and the generation gap into this equation you have uncharted territory that demands immediate action to protect and enhance reputations.

His view: “The COVID-19 pandemic has created an environment where customers may not blindly trust a new product, service, or business. As a result, reputation management and effective communication strategies for businesses have become increasingly important.”

So, how do you start?

Madan Bahal advises that with new market realities emerging in the post-pandemic world, a strong line of communication between a business and its customers can instil positivity and reliability around the brand.

“The post-pandemic business environment will be one represented by growing geopolitical complexity, a more polarised society, and the chance for backlash if the popular sentiment is hurt.”

His advice works for startups and mature companies alike, saying they have to navigate these challenges through effective communication and reputation management.

Despite the rising popularity of public relations (PR) services for business communications and crisis management, some fledgeling companies are still reluctant to give PR a serious thought.

According to Madan, there is often temperamental incompatibility between young startup founders and PR firms due to a mismatch in expectations. However, founders eventually realise the importance of public communication for attracting talent, announcing fundraises, and dealing with crises, he added.

Madan has been an entrepreneur since 1981, co-founded Adfactors PR in 1997. Adfactors PR is India’s largest PR firm, serving over 300 retained clients across 40 cities in the country.

Madan compares startups to fragile organisms vulnerable to risks in a complex environment.

“For these startups, public relations and reputation management add a ring of protection, trust, and credibility. This gives them a competitive advantage across the board,” he said.

Madan highlighted the positive and negative perceptions the media held about the young startup founders. “Startups were perceived to be transformational and big contributors to economic growth, however, they suffered from insensitive hire-and-fire policies or toxic work culture,” he said.

Now, getting down to what you do when facing all these challenges – here is his list of seven actions which can protect and build reputations:

startups should view every action from the lens of public interest
invest time in maintaining healthy media relations
establish listening posts to guide and alert potential reputation risks
place CXOs, CFOs, or CHROs as reputation leads
build crisis protocols to enable rapid responses
make the purpose of sustainability, diversity, and inclusion the guiding principles for actions and communications
realise a sincere apology goes a long way in reputation management

It is hard to imagine any organisation which would not greatly benefit from his advice.

(Thanks to YourStory India and “TechSparks 2020” for much of the above content)

Australia shows what happens when you get the Chinese offside

There is a covert diplomatic trade war between Australia and China, and it is showing the world how China responds when it takes offence or simply does not like your diplomatic stance.

First, responses from China are random and arbitrary – making it hard to respond.

Second, communication about trade bans is always informal and difficult to clarify.

Third, unexplained checks on products slow trade down or lead to damaged goods.

Examples of this use of checks to pursue trade reprisals include looking for weeds in barley, questionable metallic levels in lobsters, or bugs in timber. An aligned strategy includes the Chinese allegations of Australian producers dumping wine, tariff threats on cotton and talk of curbs on Australian copper and coal.

Iron ore – Australia’s major export – is so far not involved.

For Australia, exports to China dominate the economy. Consider these figures of “the top 5” where Australia exports:

China A$150 billion

Japan $52 billion

South Korea $25 Billion

USA $17 billion

UK $15 billion

The world is watching this trade dispute – and learning how China goes about it.

India stepping forward in regional security

Thirteen years can be a long time in regional security and diplomacy.

It is thirteen years since the Quadrilateral security dialogue (or the Quad) between the officials of Australia, India, Japan and the US, gave in to Chinese coercion.

This year it is back and potentially stronger.

India has decided to stand strong, as it becomes a significant regional power. It is again leading the Quad in the Malabar series of naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal – the exercises aim to support an “open and prosperous Indo-Pacific”.

In 2007 countries like India and Australia gave in to Chinese pressure and pulled out of the exercises – China then described the Quad as an “Asian NATO” designed solely to contain China.

The Malabar series of naval exercises is a complex annual fixture with ships, aircraft and submarines of the Indian, US, Australia and Japanese navies exercising alternately in the Indian and the Western Pacific Oceans.

India is different from the other Quad members in that it shares a land border with China – so in that way, it has most at risk in stirring up the Chinese. To put it in perspective, this border is the world’s longest unsettled boundary. Recent military escalation along the border has caused global concern.

All four members of the Quad know that China might “punish” them in response to the Malabar exercises, but they are going ahead anyway.

One narrative is driving most of the strategic decisions and activities in the Indian Ocean region – and that is the need to respond to China. China is seen as the only major power acting to the detriment of the order and stability of the region.

Most feel that attempts to appease China have only led to increased belligerence and a disrespect for diplomatic avenues. Hence, the Quad. And hence, India is stepping forward.

India and Japan closely watching USA elections

India and Japan might feel better about regional affairs if Biden wins the Presidency of the USA next week.

Why? Because neither country feels comfortable with the bombast and cold war rhetoric emerging from the Trump Administration and US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

Even Australia, which is often too keen to outdo the US, was cautious in response to Pompeo and alluded to our interest in a good relationship with China.

These are some of the key points I take from a recent very thoughtful analysis by John McCarthy AO, a Senior Advisor to Asialink and former Australian Ambassador to the United States, Indonesia, Japan, and High Commissioner to India.

McCarthy makes the point that Pompeo went much further than Japan or India would like when he told the recent Quad meeting in Tokyo that they should “build out a true security framework”.

McCarthy wrote: “Apart from not sharing Pompeo’s buccaneer spirit, Japan continues to seek some equilibrium in its relations with China and has constitutional issues with security groupings. And while India continues to have serious border issues with China, it shows no inclination to veer from its doctrine of Strategic Autonomy.”

“If the Quad is to be in our interests, it has to be a cautious Quad. It is acknowledged—at least formally—by Quad members that ASEAN remains central to regional interstate architecture,” he said.

McCarthy also illustrated how “cause and effect” works in diplomacy: “The more the Quad develops a distinct identity, the greater the risk of growing regional fracturing between three groups—China, the Quad, and ASEAN—possibly with China pulling at Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, and the Quad pulling at Vietnam. This will make it all the harder to develop even the loose regional approaches on managing China’s rise-particularly on the South China Sea.”

Important to note, as McCarthy does in his conclusion, that Biden’s main priority on election would be to get his own house in order.

That, at least, would yield positive outcomes for us all and be a relief from the bombast.

Modi pushing hard on reducing imports and increasing exports

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi set out an ambitious plan to boost exports while reducing imports – and it is working.

According to data collected from the Centre Government, India’s exports to the USA amounted to USD 5.1 billion in September 2020, 15.5% more than the figures for the corresponding month (USD 4.4 billion) in 2019.

In addition, imports from the United States decreased by a substantial 34.3% to USD 1.8 billion in September 2020, compared to USD 2.8 billion in September 2019.

Similarly, in the period from April to September this year, imports from China, one of the largest producers of commodities across industries, decreased to USD 27.4 billion. Therefore, imports have decreased by 24.5% from the USD 36.3 billion amount for the same duration last year.

Meanwhile, Indian exports to China increased by 26.3% to hit USD 10.6 billion in the above-mentioned period, a substantial increase from USD 8.4 billion for the period April-September 2019.

It’s a stunning turnaround and more is to come…

Suzlon Group appoints new CEO for next stage of renewable energy

Suzlon Group, India’s largest renewable energy provider, has announced that it has appointed Mr. Ashwani Kumar as its Group CEO.

This is a significant announcement for sustainable energy and India in particular.

The Suzlon Group is one of the leading renewable energy solutions providers in the world with a global presence across 18 countries in Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa and Americas. Headquartered at Suzlon One Earth in Pune, India; the Group is comprised of Suzlon Energy Limited (NSE & BSE: SUZLON) and its subsidiaries.

Ashwani Kumar, with over three decades of experience in the areas of projects, business development and finance at leading Indian Power and Infrastructure companies is a Mechanical Engineer, and an alumnus of IIM Bangalore and The Harvard Business School.

Mr Tulsi Tanti, Chairman and Managing Director, Suzlon Group, is the driving force who has built Suzlon into a major global wind energy player.

Mr Tanti is picture sixth from left when he presented the Australia India Address in Melbourne.

India boosts Quad naval cooperation as China hostility continues

New defence ties in the Indian Ocean region are rolling out on a regular basis – the latest one reports Australia will join three-way Malabar naval exercises – involving the United States, Japan and India.

Australia left the program after participating in 2007 – leaving following some strong criticism from China.

The move back by Australia shows how much regional attitudes to China have changed.

This new move could raise concerns in China, which has criticised similar joint drills as “destabilising”. China has been slamming import restrictions on Australian cola, cotton, wine and other products.

In contrast to declining relations with China, Australian PM Morrison and Indian PM Modi are working closely together.

India took the initiative of inviting Australia back in a sign of cooperation between the “Quad” countries.

The Malabar exercises are held in the Bay of Bengal.

The joint drills are super significant because they are the first concrete action of the Quad grouping.

China has denounced the Quad as an attempt to contain its development.

India’s decision on expanding the exercises comes at a time when it is locked in a military stand-off on the disputed land border with China.

Four Indian startups become unicorns during Covid19

Great Indian story of succeeding in tough times – four Indian startups, Postman, Nykaa, Unacademy and Razorpay, have become unicorns amid covid-19.

In the venture capital world, a “unicorn” is a startup with a value of $1 billion.

The nation is on track to have 8 unicorns in 2020, almost the same number of additions as in 2019.

According to a study titled ‘Covid-19 and the Antifragility of the Indian Startup Ecosystem,’ India is on its way to having 100 unicorns by 2025.

The study was launched by TiE-Delhi, a global non-profit organisation supporting entrepreneurship in collaboration with Zinnov, a global management and strategy consulting company.

It revealed that total funding fell by 50% compared to pre-covid levels during the lockdown. As a result, around 40% of start-ups have been adversely affected and 15% have been forced to discontinue operations.

The third largest start-up ecosystem in the world was jolted by the multi-dimensional pandemic and the effect was extreme during the lockdown period from March to June 2020. However, the rate of recovery, both in demand and in investor sentiment, was faster than anticipated as the economy opened.

Why is India doing so well in tough times?

During Covid19 there has been a big move to digital consumption – so startups in education, healthcare and trade have boomed.

Indian PM Modi and Australian PM Morrison could create “Indian Ocean Food Bowl” – India exports up

Not many in the west think of India as a food exporter. But it is – and the numbers are going up.

This blog Into India has called for greater collaboration between India and Australia to become the “food bowls of the Indian Ocean Region”. The combination of the know-how in both countries could produce major agribusiness innovations, especially in horticulture and hydroponics.

Indian exports of essential agricultural commodities for the cumulative period of April-September, 2020 has increased by 43.4% to US$ 7.34 billion.

The major commodity groups doing well in export include Groundnut (35%), Refined Sugar (104%), wheat (206%), Basmati Rice (13%) and Non-Basmati Rice (105%).

It’s a great outcome for the Modi Government.

To boost agri exports, the Government created an Agriculture Export Policy, 2018 which, among other things, provides for a cluster-based approach for export-centric farming of cash crops like fruits, vegetables, spices, etc. It is working!

Recently, the Government has also announced an Agri Infra Fund of US$ 13.70 billion to improve the agri business environment – so more export growth is on the way.