Article by Gerard Cockburn courtesy of the West Australian.
WA mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi during his Australian visit, days after it was revealed her company is looking at a lithium partnership with India’s biggest iron ore miner.
Mrs Rinehart, speaking to media on Tuesday after her meeting with Mr Modi, said the discussions were “exciting” and the trade potential between the two countries was “huge”.
‘“It was a very interesting and exciting meeting with PM Modi, who I have met with several times in the past, in both Australia and New Delhi,” she said.
“The growth recently has been huge, the growth in the future is going to be huge. Australia really needs to work harder to develop its relations with India,” she said.
“You only need to look at the investment that has flowed to India from about 60 different countries.”
The West Australian reported on Saturday that executives of the Indian Government-owned NMDC (formerly the National Mineral Development Corporation) flew out of WA on Friday after a visit that included meetings with the State Government and lithium processors, and a tour of the Roy Hill iron ore mine owned by Mrs Rinehart.
NMDC has recently turned its attention to lithium and other critical minerals, seeking to upscale India in the mining and processing of battery metals to meet the uptake of EVs in the world’s third-biggest car market. It is believed the Hancock-led joint venture could formalise a lithium pact with NMDC by the end of next month.
“There are fantastic opportunities with our friend and important ally in India,” Mrs Rinehart said on Tuesday after her meeting.
“Australia should be looking more closely at India and following such a successful path. The Indian Prime Minister is in Australia letting our companies and others know that our investment in India is very welcome.”
Mr Modi is set to meet a handful of business delegates over the next two days in Sydney, including Rio Tinto Australia chief executive Kellie Parker and BHP Australia president Geraldine Slattery.
Executives from Origin Energy, ANZ and Commonwealth Bank have also been invited to speak with the Indian Prime Minister. He is expected to meet the heads of Bluescope Steel, Graincorp, HSBC and Orica.
Mr Modi’s talks with Australia’s top companies are part of a growing dialogue with India to expand trade relations in key sectors like energy, resources and technology.
“We want to boost our trade and investment with one of the world’s fastest growing major economies,” Trade Minister Don Farrell said.
Westpac senior economist Justin Smirk said a pivot to India was “complicated”, outlining a complex legal system with poor compliance was a challenge for Australian exporters to enter the major economy.
He said there were clear advantages for businesses to go to India and highlighted WA’s critical mineral, lithium and LNG deposits were attractive supply chain opportunities for exporters.
“They’re rapidly electrifying their economy,” Mr Smirk told The West Australian.
“Cars, scooters and rickshaws are all going electric and so lithium ion batteries are the focus to generate that. And what does WA have? Nickel and lithium.”
Mr Smirk also noted India would never replace China as a major trading partner, particularly for commodities like iron ore and coal. India is a large exporter of iron ore.
“The way their economy is developing is quite different to the Chinese development,” Mr Smirk said.
“It’s not as resource intensive.”
Mr Smirk also said tourism and education would be big areas of growth between the countries due to India’s big need to educate and re-skill its population.
Mr Modi is also in Sydney to meet with Indian diaspora and held a 20,000-person cultural event at Qudos stadium at Sydney Olympic Park on Tuesday evening.
At the event, Mr Albanese announced a new centre for Australia-India relations in Sydney to drive greater collaboration between the two nations through business, Government and the community.
“We want to see more connections — more Australian and Indian students living and studying in each other’s countries, and bringing those experiences home,” the Prime Minister said in his speech to the event.
“(We want to see) more business leaders and artists and families sharing your experiences and your knowledge and your ideas.”
