John Whelan: India could be the next big market for Ireland

Irish exporters have failed to crack the Indian market in any substantial way, and will hope that a free trade deal will make the difference and enable the kind of growth they have managed in the likes of China.

One important example is the very large consumer demand for whiskey in India which is protected by a 150% tariff on imports, hitting Irish whiskey and making it prohibitively expensive for locals to buy.

Sun, 11 Jun, 2023 - 17:49

John Whelan

An expert in Irish and international trade, John Whelan is a former Chief Executive of the Irish Exporters Association, a role he held for more than a decade and previously served as an export industry adviser to the AIB Bank Group.

A seismic technology shift is upon us as the world moves aggressively towards electric vehicles, sparking the energy storage revolution, a revolution currently led by China. But this may be about to change, as India recently indicated it may overtake China following a substantial discovery of lithium reserves.

Up until now, lithium reserves have been an important factor in Apple’s location of manufacturing in China and for Tesla’s, which has signed off a three-year lithium supply deal with top Chinese lithium producer Ganfeng Lithium.