India - Australia Relations

Over the last two decades, the relationship between India and Australia has grown from friendly but distant into a genuine strategic partnership. The two countries share a great deal: pluralistic Westminster-style democracies, Commonwealth traditions, deepening economic ties and steady high-level contact.

Long-standing people-to-people links, a large number of Indian students travelling to Australia for higher education, and growing tourism and sporting ties have all helped bring the two nations closer. For more study notes on how India works with the wider world, browse our International Relations notes.

History and Background

Contact between India and Australia began soon after Europeans arrived in Australia in 1788. In those early years the British East India Company routed all trade to and from the convict colony of New South Wales through Kolkata.

India and Australia set up diplomatic links even before India became independent, opening an India Trade Office in Sydney in 1941.

In 1991 the end of the Cold War coincided with India launching major economic reforms. This was the first real step towards closer ties between the two countries. Over time the relationship grew from mainly commercial links into a broader strategic partnership.

Bilateral Relationship

The relationship was upgraded to a Strategic Partnership through a joint declaration on security cooperation in 2009.

Many institutional mechanisms have been built over the years to keep cooperation going. These include:

• High-level visits and annual meetings between the Prime Ministers
• The Foreign Ministers' Framework Dialogue and the Joint Trade and Commerce Ministerial Commission
• The India-Australia 2+2 Foreign Secretaries and Defence Secretaries Dialogue
• Defence Policy Talks, Defence Services Staff Talks and an Energy Security Dialogue
• The Australia-India Education Council and various Joint Working Groups

Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne visited India in January 2019 and again in January 2020 to take part in the Raisina Dialogue, India's flagship conference on geopolitics.

Economic Relationship

In recent years the economic link between India and Australia has grown quickly.

As part of building a stronger relationship with India, Australia adopted many recommendations of the India Economic Strategy, a report prepared by an Australian think tank to map out how Australia could benefit from India's growth.

The strategy set out the kind of relationship Australia should aim for with India up to 2035. It was published on 12 July 2018 and identified ten priority sectors:

• Education, treated as the flagship sector
• Agriculture
• Resources
• Tourism
• Energy
• Health
• Financial services
• Infrastructure
• Sports
• Science and innovation

The report also named ten Indian states where Australia should focus its efforts: Andhra Pradesh, Delhi NCR, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

In 2018 the Australian government backed the strategy's twenty priority recommendations in principle and agreed to a first set of measures under a rolling plan. India, in turn, asked the Confederation of Indian Industry to prepare a matching Australia Economic Strategy, which was released in 2020.

Bilateral Trade

In 2017-18 India was Australia's fifth-largest trading partner, with goods and services trade worth about A$29 billion, or 3.6 per cent of Australia's total trade. Of this, Australian exports to India were about A$21 billion and imports from India about A$8 billion.

Overall trade that year rose by about 13 per cent compared with the year before.

Main goods traded: India's leading exports to Australia have included pharmaceuticals, refined petroleum, textiles, gems and jewellery and education-related services, while Australia's main exports to India have included coal, copper ores, gold, and lentils and other pulses.

The two countries also spent years discussing a broader Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, or CECA, and, as the section below explains, they have since signed a first trade deal and are now negotiating the fuller one.

Cultural Relations

Education

The Joint Working Group on Education has picked out several areas for cooperation, including joint research on education policy, student exchange programmes, capacity building in vocational training, and distance learning in higher education.

Colombo Plan

Under Australia's New Colombo Plan, Australian undergraduates have studied and completed internships in India. Australia has also agreed to help India set up a world-class sports university.

Defence Cooperation

Defence ties have grown steadily through joint exercises:

• In September 2015 the first bilateral maritime exercise, AUSINDEX 15, was held off Visakhapatnam in the Bay of Bengal.
• AUSINDEX 2017 took place off Fremantle, Australia, in June 2017, with three Indian naval ships taking part.
• AUSINDEX 2019 was held in the Bay of Bengal in April 2019.
• In 2018 the Indian Air Force joined Exercise Pitch Black in Australia for the first time, and INS Sahyadri took part in Exercise Kakadu, hosted by the Australian Navy.
• In September 2019 the fourth edition of the AUSTRAHIND special forces exercise was held.

The 2+2 Dialogue

In 2015 India and Australia agreed to hold yearly meetings of their Foreign and Defence Secretaries, known as the 2+2 Dialogue, to strengthen foreign policy and security cooperation. The third round took place in New Delhi on 9 December 2019.

India, Australia and Japan Trilateral Dialogue

India, Australia and Japan held their first secretary-level trilateral talks in New Delhi in June 2015. Further rounds followed in Tokyo in February 2016, Canberra in April 2017 and New Delhi in December 2017. This trilateral later fed into the wider Quad grouping described below.

Indian Community

The Indian community in Australia numbers close to half a million people and keeps growing in size and influence. India is one of Australia's most important sources of skilled migrants, and around 90,000 Indian students study at Australian universities. The community's rising profile is visible in Australia's large celebrations of Indian festivals, especially Diwali.

Why it still matters today

This topic is not just history. The India-Australia partnership is one of the fastest-moving relationships in the Indo-Pacific right now, and it turns up regularly in the news and in competitive exams.

A real trade deal is now in force. The long-discussed trade talks finally produced a result. The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, or ECTA, was signed in April 2022 and came into force in December 2022. It was India's first free trade agreement with a major developed economy in more than a decade. Under it, India's exports to Australia more than doubled, rising from roughly US$4 billion in 2020-21 to about US$8.5 billion by 2024-25. From 1 January 2026, every Indian export is eligible for zero-duty entry into Australia, and two-way trade in goods and services is now worth around US$32 billion a year.

An even bigger deal is being negotiated. ECTA was designed as a first step. India and Australia are now working on the fuller Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, the same CECA the older notes above describe as still under discussion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi again pushed for an early conclusion of CECA when he addressed the Australia-India CEO Forum in 2026. If you are studying how countries actually build trade ties, this is a live example you can follow in real time.

The strategic side is just as active. India and Australia now sit together in the Quad, alongside Japan and the United States. The Quad Foreign Ministers met in New Delhi on 26 May 2026, with India as host, and agreed to work together on maritime security, critical minerals and clean energy in the Indo-Pacific. The India-Australia-Japan trilateral you read about above was one of the building blocks of this larger group.

Want to see how trade, defence and diplomacy fit together across countries? Explore the wider world on the Learnacy Hub, or read more study notes that connect your syllabus to what is happening now.

Sources

1. VisionIAS, India-Australia ECTA completes four years: https://visionias.in/current-affairs/news-today/2026-04-03/international-relations/india-australia-economic-cooperation-and-trade-agreement-ecta-completes-four-years
2. India Briefing, India-Australia trade relations 2026 (ECTA and CECA): https://www.india-briefing.com/news/india-australia-trade-relations-2026-ecta-ceca-key-sectors-45998.html/
3. Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia-India CECA: https://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/negotiations/aifta/australia-india-comprehensive-economic-cooperation-agreement
4. Austrade, Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement: https://www.austrade.gov.au/en/how-we-can-help-you/australian-exporters/free-trade-agreements/india
5. US Department of State, Joint Statement from the Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting in New Delhi, 26 May 2026: https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/05/joint-statement-from-the-quad-foreign-ministers-meeting-in-new-delhi/

Key takeaways

• India-Australia relations have evolved from friendly but distant to a strategic partnership over the past two decades
• The relationship was upgraded to a Strategic Partnership through a 2009 joint declaration on security cooperation
• Australia adopted the India Economic Strategy in 2018, identifying ten priority sectors including Education, Agriculture, Resources, Tourism, and Energy
• In 2017-18, India was Australia's fifth-largest trading partner with bilateral trade worth approximately A$29 billion
• Defence cooperation has expanded through joint exercises including AUSINDEX maritime exercises, AUSTRAHIND special forces exercises, and participation in each other's military drills

Test yourself

In what year was the Strategic Partnership between India and Australia established?

2009

What was the value of bilateral trade between India and Australia in 2017-18?

About A$29 billion, or 3.6 per cent of Australia's total trade

What rank did India hold as Australia's trading partner in 2017-18?

Fifth-largest trading partner

Frequently asked questions

What does the term 'Strategic Partnership' mean in the context of India-Australia relations?

A Strategic Partnership refers to a relationship that goes beyond trade and includes security cooperation, institutional dialogues, and shared policy frameworks, as seen in the 2009 joint declaration between India and Australia.

Why is education considered a flagship sector in India-Australia economic ties?

Education is treated as the flagship sector because of the large number of Indian students pursuing higher education in Australia and the establishment of the Australia-India Education Council to strengthen academic and research collaboration.

What role did the India Economic Strategy play in shaping Australia's approach to India?

The India Economic Strategy, published in 2018, mapped out how Australia could benefit from India's growth by identifying priority sectors and Indian states for focused engagement, guiding Australia's economic diplomacy with India.

How do institutional mechanisms like the 2+2 Dialogue contribute to bilateral relations?

Institutional mechanisms such as the 2+2 Dialogue between Foreign and Defence Secretaries provide structured platforms for high-level discussions, ensuring regular engagement and sustained cooperation across security and strategic domains.