CII Chandigarh: The CII-Australia India Business Council (AIBC) North India Boot Camp, hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at its Northern Region Headquarters in Chandigarh, brought together senior representatives from government, trade and investment institutions, industry and business from India and Australia to explore new avenues for strengthening bilateral economic and commercial engagement. The Boot Camp was attended by Mr. Puneet Kaura, Chairperson, CII Northern Region and Managing Director & CEO, Samtel Avionics; Mr. Philip Green OAM, Australia’s High Commissioner to India; and Mr. Manish Tewari, Member of Parliament, Chandigarh and Chairperson, India-Australia Parliamentary Friendship Group, alongside senior stakeholders from both countries.
The Boot Camp provided a platform for meaningful dialogue on the evolving India-Australia relationship, with discussions focused on translating the strong strategic foundation between the two countries into greater business-to-business engagement, investment opportunities and partnerships, particularly across emerging and high-potential sectors.
Discussions at the Boot Camp highlighted the complementary strengths of the two economies. India brings significant capabilities across engineering, pharmaceuticals, textiles, IT, manufacturing, food processing and clean technology, while Australia offers strong capabilities in natural resources and critical minerals, agriculture and technology, research, capital and institutions. The focus was therefore on viewing India and Australia not merely as two markets trading with each other, but as economies that can build, invest, and innovate together. Particular opportunities were identified in critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and green technologies. India’s ambitions in electric mobility, renewable energy and advanced manufacturing create a growing need for secure and diversified access to critical minerals, while Australia’s resources, capital and technology capabilities can complement India’s scale and expanding manufacturing ecosystem.
The discussions also examined the opportunities emerging from the strengths of North India. Punjab and Haryana offer significant scope for deeper industrial and business partnerships, with opportunities spanning agri-tech, food processing, dairy, water efficiency, cold chains, and textiles in Punjab, alongside its strong engineering and manufacturing base, including Ludhiana’s industrial ecosystem. Haryana’s strengths in automotive, advanced manufacturing, engineering, IT and services similarly offer avenues for collaboration with Australian companies across technology, mobility, digitalisation and supply chains. The Boot Camp also showcased encouraging momentum at the sub-national level, including New South Wales’ first trade mission to India, which explored opportunities across critical minerals, technology, tourism, education and advanced manufacturing. Such engagements reflect the growing interest among Australian states and territories in India as a strategic economic market.
Highlighting the need to translate these institutional and government-level relationships into stronger business-to-business connections and tangible commercial outcomes, the Boot Camp talked of the next phase of the India-Australia relationship can be driven by deeper. For North India, with its strong industrial and business base, platforms such as the CII-AIBC North India Boot Camp can help move the relationship from dialogue to engagement, from engagement to partnership and ultimately towards tangible business outcomes, laying the foundation for an enduring and productive India-Australia business partnership.
