India is WA's next big thing: Barnett

Colin Barnett has signalled an historic pivot towards India, declaring WA's trade with traditional partners Japan and China has reached or is entering "maturity" and the subcontinent is our "next big frontier".

Ahead of his first visit to the country as Premier, Mr Barnett also flagged establishing a second WA trade office in India.

He leaves tomorrow on the week-long Asian trade mission, which also takes in Singapore.

In an exclusive interview, Mr Barnett said India's thirst for liquefied natural gas had the potential to underpin a relationship with WA to rival Japan's from the 1960s and China's from the mid-1990s.

Both countries played pivotal roles in developing WA's iron ore industry, but growth in trade with Japan tapered off some time ago and it was similarly slowing with China.

"So we have got Japan absolutely mature, China approaching maturity - India is the next big frontier for Western Australia," Mr Barnett said.

"The benefits of this will be 10, 15 years away but they'll be huge and India will have an impact on us like China's had - maybe not as great as China but it'll be a great impact."

Mr Barnett said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed the country's interest in WA's LNG during a short but significant meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brisbane in November.

Mr Barnett said WA's total trade with India was "quite small" at $1.9 billion last year compared with $66.4 billion in total exports to China in 2013.

But India had been "neglected" and his visit was long overdue.

The Department of State Development has a trade office in Mumbai, on the west coast, and Mr Barnett said he would consider starting one in Chennai, in the east, where LNG import terminals were well established.

India's LNG imports had been growing at an average 22 per cent a year for a decade, making it an exciting time to visit.

"The major corporations, they may be totally private, but they will be guided by government and they won't do anything unless they've got government backing, so government to government relations are important and I'm trying to build it," Mr Barnett said.

Although LNG topped the list of growth commodities, there was scope to export WA innovation and expertise to improve skills in India's unsophisticated mining and agricultural sectors.

"We can probably do a fair bit in helping to modernise their mining," Mr Barnett said. "They still literally do it with a pick and shovel.

"Also there's potential around agriculture. They lose around 40 per cent of their, for example, grain through just rats and mice."

Education was a key market, with India already WA's second biggest origin of international students and growing.

There were 2797 Indian students enrolled last year, a 68 per cent increase on 2013.