Chennai, Dec 29 (Representative) The recently concluded India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) commenced operation from the Adani Ennore Container Terminal today and will cover 90% of bilateral trade between the two countries. Under ECTA, India will benefit from preferential access to 100% of its export products to Australia With this exports from Tamil Nadu is expected to cross USD 500 million this fiscal. The flagging of ceremony of the export consignments from Tamil Nadu under ECTA was held today at the Adani Ennore Container Terminal in the presence of Israr Ahmed, Past Chairman FIEO, Vishwas BN, ITS Jt. DGFT, Chennai, Balaji, Addl Commissioner of Customs, Chennai, Unnikrishnan AR, MD, Saint Gobain India Pvt Ltd., Ramde Karangiya, Container Terminal Head, Adani Ennore Container Terminal Ltd, Vivek Nair, Head Container Sales at Adani Ennore Container Terminal Ltd, other senior officials from Zonal DGFT, FIEO, Ennore Port and leading exporters to Australia. Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India and India is Australia’s 9th largest trading partner.
India-Australia bilateral trade for both merchandise and services was valued at USD 27.5 billion in 2021. Even though India’s exports to Australia have considerably increased over the years, there remains scope for increased development, as under ECTA, Indian exporters now stand to gain preferential access to untapped areas of the Australian market, an Adani release said. The Implementation of ECTA from today is expected to help Indian exporters, especially MSMEs utilise opportunities in the Australian market to its optimum potential. India’s strength in pharma products, jewellery, vehicles and agricultural products including rice, textiles and garments, handloom products, leather products, organic chemicals engineering and construction materials including float glasses, spices etc, can be leveraged by the exporters in the region to gain more share in Australia’s import basket. Congratulating the Union Government for the successful implementation of ECTA, FIEO President Dr.Sakthivel said Textiles and Garments will gain immensely along with opportunities for the handloom sector. Other segments which can gain larger market share within short term from Tamil Nadu are Gems and Jewellery, Leather and non-leather footwear segment, Handicraft, Auto parts and engineering products, among others. During FY 21- 22, export from Tamil Nadu to Australia was to the tune of USD 384 million and during the current financial year from April to October, exports already touched 322 million USD and is expected to cross USD 500 million during this fiscal, he said.
Dr.Sakthivel urged exporters to optimise their supply chain efficiencies in order to have cost effective deliveries to Australian customers and suggested that the excellent infrastructure available at the Adani Ennore Container Terminal may be used as a dedicated export cargo terminal to Australia from Southern India. While referring to potential competition for Indian products from China in the Australian market, he said 27% of Australia’s imports comes from China compared to India’s 2.4% and advised exporters to strategically handle it by understanding all areas of competitiveness in the products exported. The Adani Ennore Container Terminal (AECT) is a state-of-the art box terminal 30 km north of Chennai Port. Located strategically, AECT offers 24×7 congestion-free approach roads for seamless cargo movement and on-dock rail siding services to Bengaluru presenting deep hinterland reach. It’s also well connected to all Container Freight Stations (CFSs) in the primary hinterland of Chennai and 4 National Highways.