Delegation from Irish India Business Association visits Clare as part of new collaboration
A COLLABORATIVE undertaking between Shannon and Tipperary Chambers and the Irish India Business Association (IIBA) resulted in a delegation from Indian companies in Ireland visiting Shannon last week.
The visit included a tour of Jaguar Land Rover’s software development centre in Shannon and a meeting with Shannon Chamber members in Shannon Airport House.
The primary focus of the visit was to identify areas of opportunity for increasing trade links between the visiting companies and Chamber member companies and to address key issues impacting the growth of business between India and Ireland and vice versa.
The delegation was led by the chairman of the IIBA, Liam Lynch who is a partner at KPMG. He was accompanied on the visit by Roger Kennedy, Cathaoirleach, Cllr Declan Burgess, Anthony Fitzgerald, Head of Enterprise at Tipperary County Council and Michelle Aylward, chief executive of Tipperary Chamber. The Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, Cllr Tony O’Brien, also attended.
The visiting companies represented a broad spectrum of sectors including technology, mining, hospitality, retail, pharmaceutical, consultancy services whilst Chamber member companies attending the meeting are involved in instrumentation, software, healthcare, automation, and transportation.
As stated at the meeting, the opportunity to do business with India is vast, but understanding where to start, adapting to cultural differences, and building trust and confidence are essential starting points.
Focusing in on two discussion areas, people and doing business in India, the key takeaways from the meeting were that a mechanism for addressing skill gaps in both countries needs to be found and that the vastness of India and a perceived lack of trust is hindering many Irish companies breaking into the Indian market.
Commenting after the meeting, Liam Lynch said: “India now ranks 37th in the world for the ease of doing business with and it has very advanced networks, however, key challenges for Irish companies looking to expand to India are breaking into the market and finding the right partners. Increasing the awareness of brand Ireland in India, and collaboration and exchanges are the way forward and the IIBA will do everything in its power to move this agenda forward.”
Helen Downes, chief executive of Shannon Chamber, said that both Chambers, while noting the key actions emanating from the meeting, will focus particularly on asking Government to address the issue and concerns raised regarding the issuing of visas.
“We are particularly concerned about the long processing time in issuing visas, the paperwork involved, and the high cost of visas. Many companies within our networks have stated that the work permit and visa process combined is extremely cumbersome and inefficient, adding significantly to companies’ talent acquisition costs. That will be our priority action from this meeting in the weeks ahead.”
The IIBA and the Chambers in Shannon and Tipperary plan further collaborative undertakings of this nature during 2023.