India among top 10 global markets for Australian biz: report

Melbourne: India has figured among the top 10 markets for the international business community here, as per Australia's International Business Survey. India has also emerged as the most challenging of the top 10 countries to do business with AIBS 2014, a comprehensive study of Australian companies involved in international business, was released recently. It found that India ranked as ninth important market currently. The country was also seen as the third important future market, with respondents saying they were planning on doing business in/with in the next two years.

The survey captured data from more than 1,600 Australian businesses, reflecting the opinions of a wide range of firms from diverse industries operating in over 120 markets. It was commissioned by Export Council of Australia with the support of Austrade and Export Finance and Insurance Corporation, and conducted by University of Sydney between October and December 2013. To the query of the most important overseas markets, the respondents disclosed that they were targeting a wide range of countries and overall nominated 81 countries as important future markets. "China and the United States continue to be front and centre. More companies (19 per cent) identify China as their top target market than any other country," the survey said.

"The United States (chosen by about 15 per cent), India (six per cent) and the United Kingdom and Indonesia (five per cent each) make up the remainder of the top five most important future target markets," the study noted. The survey found that the most important market for international business for the participants varied by the industry. Education and Training industry stood as the most important market for Australian international business community when it came to India.