50% of the population of India are under 25. No wonder Malcolm Turnbull thinks the Australia India economic relationship is under done. It really needs to be more than the traditional three c’s – cricket, curry and commonwealth. With such a young population, there is insatiable Indian demand for professional services, education and training from Australia.
That’s why you’ve seen a big push for Indian students and research ties with India. In fact Sydney based Bollywood producer Anupam Sharma made a film “From Sydney with love” on the UNSW Campus to show India that Australia was an Indian friendly country and that same university holds an annual Gandhi oration in honour of the Mahatma.
The young population has also been accompanied by a large middle class consumer culture with shopping malls booming and Australian franchises like Cookie Man, Gloria Jeans, Clarks shoes and even Andrew Gaze’s sports brands doing well (just to get off the cricket topic for a moment).
But here’s the rub. Whilst there’s a lot young people in India, many are in the east of the country whilst the jobs are in the west and in the more prosperous regions. So, they’ll be a lot of internal labour migration and hence infrastructure needs to help the movement take place. Which is good news for Leightons and Linfox, but a lot more work for India to do to find work for its exploding young population.
This article was originally published in the Herald Sun
More articles for you:
The Airport Economist TV show on how to do business in Qantas destinations in Asia and around the world is currently being shown on Qantas Domestic and International flights.
Don’t forget you can also watch the Airport Economist on YouTube, visit us on Facebook , find out the latest news on Twitter or network with us on LinkedIn. You can also send Tim a message or question here.