John Dean continues Business Echo's series on emerging economies with a look at India.

FOR many years, most North-East exporters have stuck with countries they understood and market places with which they were familiar.

That has meant dealing with companies in the US, Germany and France. But increasingly, it is becoming clear that the big opportunities lie elsewhere.

Companies are fast realising that the potential to break into massive new markets lies in emerging economies, such as China, Eastern Europe, Brazil and, possibly the biggest of them all, India. The negative publicity surrounding the loss of British jobs when companies move call centres to India has partly masked the other opportunities that exist there.

India is developing at such a rate that economists say the country, which has more than a billion people, is closer than ever to becoming a global economic power.

Driving India's success has been a booming outsourcing sector - call centres and the like - strong services and rapid manufacturing expansion.

And although much of India remains locked in poverty, the country has a rapidly developing middle class which, according to economists, has embraced consumerism.

That means a booming market for foreign products in the luxury sector and as a result, sectors including communication, software and autoparts have been thriving, presenting opportunities for North-East companies.

Mobile phones illustrate the growth.

Last November, for example, India - the world's fastest-growing mobile phone market - had 1.18 million new users, bringing its total to 72 million.

And as firms target the untapped rural market, that figure is expected to keep rising.

Overall, the latest figures suggest that the country's growth will continue, up eight per cent in the year ending this month, following a 6.9 per cent rise the previous year.

Add to that a stock market that grew by 40 per cent last year and you have a country that is the fastest growing major world economy after China.

That spells opportunity for North-East businesses, although careful preparation is needed. As anyone who has dealt with India will tell you, things move at a slower pace in the country's business circles.

Ross Cordiner, deputy international trade director for UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) in the North-East, which helps companies develop foreign markets, said: "Countries like India need a strategy that views them as a long-term development."