India can harness Australian expertise to boost cybersecurity: Official

New Delhi, Nov 24:  As the Indian government aims to foster innovation through ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’, Australian companies can help solve cybersecurity challenges in the country with home-grown technologies and solutions, a senior official said on Thursday.

John Madew, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) visited India with a six-member delegation from November 21-24 to expand linkages between technology and innovation and the Indian IT sector.

“This mission is an excellent opportunity for Indian IT companies to learn more about Australia’s advanced capabilities in cybersecurity and how they can integrate novel Australian cybersecurity solutions into their supply chain and offer them for their global clients,” Madew told reporters here.

India is Australia’s fifth largest export market with Australian merchandise and services exports valued at approximately 13.5 billion (Australian dollars) as of 2015.

The Australia-India bi-lateral trade is valued at $19.8 billion (Australian dollars). In 2015, Indian foreign investment into Australia was valued at $11.6 billion (Australian dollars), with Australian investment in India valued at $1.5 billion (Australian dollars).

“We are working on expanding bilateral trade and investment relationship further. Taking into account India’s economic growth imperative, one of the key initiative areas of Austrade in India is on innovation and technology,” Madew said. The delegation visited Cheni, Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai and met senior representatives from India’s leading IT companies. (IANS)