Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said negotiations with Australia are on for a joint production partnership in the audio-visual services, and an agreement to that effect is expected to be finalised. Australia has technologies and equipment, and India has skilled manpower to increase cooperation in the sector, the minister added.

“We are looking at a joint production partnership in audiovisual services. So, we are negotiating and hope to finalise an agreement to do joint production. Today the big cost of movies is made at billions of dollars. India has the skills and the manpower who can do it. Can we do joint production so that we can reach out to the world,” he told reporters here.

When asked about attracting investments, the minister said he has met senior leadership of Australia’s Macquarie and discussed their successes in India.

Australia has a huge investible surplus with their sovereign and pensions and they look for avenues to do investments, he said.

“They want to expand manyfold just like in the UAE. I found that they want to do a USD 100 billion-plus investment. Just ADIA (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority) and Mubadala (a sovereign wealth fund of the UAE) alone have a USD 100 billion investment appetite in India,” the minister added.

Further talking about enhancing further engagement with Australia, he said areas that hold huge potential include the digital world, fintech and edtech.

There are many areas where both the countries have synergies and where they can grow together, creating jobs for people in both the countries, he said, adding Australia has been kind enough to remove the tax that was being charged on Indian IT companies, which will save over Rs 1,400-1,500 crore per year of Indian IT firms.

“We can help Australia by bringing UPI (unified payments interface) to Australia …We can help bring online education… Innovation, joint research, and joint standards so that we can make world-class products in India for the world. That’s What we are looking at engaging with them,” Goyal said.

When asked whether there is any possibility to include strategic sectors like uranium in the next phase of the current trade pact, he said these things are being handled by different teams in terms of rare earth and minerals.

“We believe that Australia and India are natural partners, natural allies. Strategically, we have to work for great economic engagement and greater geopolitical engagement. So, you will see a lot of action on those fronts also,” Goyal added.

Export sectors that can benefit immensely from the current trade pact with Australia include textiles, leather, pharma, engineering, plastics, automobiles and toys.

China has domination in these segments here as they get duty free access.

Now, customs duties would be eliminated for India also under the pact, “so this would be a big change”, he said.

Citing examples, he said Australia imports pharma products worth USD 12 billion and India’s share is about USD 345 million.