The Australian Federation of Automotive Products Manufacturers will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) on Thursday in New Delhi, said Barry Comben, leader of the Victorian Automotive Trade Mission to India, on Tuesday.
Addressing the representatives of automotive industry at a networking event, he said that the MoU would call for closer interaction between the automotive manufacturers in India and Australia to explore the opportunity.
Mr. Comben is leading an eight-member team from Victoria to Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune for discussions with automotive firms and research organisations to explore and understand their needs and meet individual challenges.
“We are not here to compete with one other, but to collaborate for mutual benefit. I have asked the team members to interact with Indian automotive representatives to explore the opportunity to form joint ventures or to use Australia's technology, its knowhow and its goods and engineering and education services,” he told The Hindu .
David Holly, Australian Consul-General for South India in Chennai, welcomed the team members and asked them to take advantage of the strong trade relations between India and Australia.
Michael Carter, Australian Trade Commissioner for South India in Chennai, said that Chennai is expected to become one of the largest automobile hubs in the world in the next couple of years when its production capacity crosses 1.5 million units annually.
Ford, Hyundai and Nissan with their production hubs in Chennai have already made India the global manufacturing hub for small cars. They manufacture cars for India and also for the global markets including Australia, he said.
