After the New York’s Madison Square Garden response, the Sydney address of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to NRIs not only reignited the relations with Canberra but also impressed Australian audience with typical Modi trademark diplomacy showcasing the reach of India. The whole exercise of wooing NRIs during Down Under trip shows his desire to see India emerging a force to reckon with in all spheres. The moribund socialism has not been able to give much to the people, thus caused large scale migration to greener pastures for economic reasons and today Indians are excelling in all the fields. He praised the diaspora for the hard work and grit to rebuild their lives. Prime Minister wanted them to become part of India’s success story by bringing back the same courage for growth. India needs Australia for its energy, coal, non-monetary gold, copper, ores and petroleum accounting for 80 per cent of Indian imports. For Australia, India offers a large market not only in energy but also in specilaised skills development across sectors like agriculture, food processing and infrastructure. India-Oz is not a new found love which developed recently. Perth was always nearer to Chennai as this is the one of the port in east India’s east coast where most of the coal imported was downloaded. With China signing a free trade pact with Australia, India can hope of inking a similar pact with Australia to improve its trade balance. Modi has done well to declare life time visa to India for holders of Person of India Origin (PIO) card, while easy visa are a good step but it is important to improve the investment climate at home. Economic reforms are needed to be speeded up with transparency becoming hall mark which can repose faith in the Indian system of governance for any investor in the country. The euphoria created from New York to Sydney should be sustained for positive results otherwise the hype will meet its own death and become part of the history.
