Boom time for Australian Exporters Targeting Indian Sports Retail

Basketball icon Andrew Gaze, Director of Australian Basketball Resources (ABR) will announce today a strategic partnership between his company and new Indian sports retail company, Jus Sportz which will see Aussie brands in major retail outlets throughout India.

Austrades New Delhi-based Senior Trade Commissioner, Michael Moignard said a mutual love of sports is taking Australian sporting brands to Indian shelves and offering exciting export opportunities in a market worth close to $310 million.

"This deal is one of the many examples of export opportunities becoming increasing available to Australian companies," Mr Moignard said.

"With a growing middle class of 300 million and their combined purchasing power* retail in India holds tremendous potential and Australian companies should take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity," he said.

Following a successful Austrade business matching initiative, ABR and Jus Sportz will sign a commercial agreement to source and distribute leading Australian brands to major retailers across India to cater to a growing interest in Australian sports goods.

According to ABR Director Andrew Gaze this is an exciting new business linkage in sport licensing.

"This partnership will give Australian brands a real presence in the Indian sports market,"Mr Gaze said. "It will create opportunities for Australian companies to expand operations into one of the worlds fastest developing nations with a relatively low risk and great exposure."

Jus Sportz will also launch the first-of-its-kind signature stores with a heavy Australian flavour - stocking primarily Australian sportswear, footwear and memorabilia. The company is set to launch four stores in Southern India by March next year, with plans to roll out a total of 20 stores across the sub-continent in the next five years.

Jus Sportz Directors C Sivakumar and Ashwin Rajagopalan are currently in Australia to meet Australian sports icons and source leading Australian brands for major distribution India-wide.

According to C Sivakumar, Indias love affair with Australian sport doesnt end with cricket.

"Most of our favourite sports icons are Australian and Australian brands enjoy a strong reputation in India," Mr Sivakumar said. "With a phenomenal growth in our sporting retail sales, it makes sense for us to take the best of Australian sporting brands directly to the discerning Indian consumer," he said.

Latest figures from Euromonitor show sporting retail sales in India reached nearly $310 million (INR11b) last year. It indicates a 31 percent growth rate in Indian sporting retail over 2004.

Austrade provides extensive support for Australian exporters in the Indian market with representatives in six Indian cities, and a network of 35 Indian Export advisers around Australia.

Michael Moignard, Austrade Senior Trade Commissioner - New Delhi, ABR Director Andrew Gaze, and Jus Sportz Directors C Sivakumar and Ashwin Rajagopalan are available for interviews.

* According to Euromonitor, total Indian retail spending in 2005 reached nearly $85 billion (INR 1 trillion)

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