India and Australia inked the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement in a virtual ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison. The move will benefit Indian exporters from over 6,000 broad sectors, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewellery and machinery; Canberra would provide duty free access in its market for over 95 per cent of Indian goods such as textiles, leather, jewellery and sports products.

Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India, while New Delhi is Canberra’s 9th largest partner. Bilateral trade in goods and services stood at USD 27.5 billion in 2021.

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India and Australia co-operate in various multilateral fora. Australia supports India’s candidature in an expanded UN Security Council. Both India and Australia are members of the G-20, Commonwealth, IOR-ARC, ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia Pacific Partnership on Climate and Clean Development, and have participated in the East Asia Summits. Both countries have also been cooperating as members of the Five Interested Parties (FIP) in the WTO context. Australia is an important player in APEC and supports India’s membership of the organisation. In 2008, it became an Observer in SAARC. Both countries are  also members of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) along with other group members, Japan and the USA, reiterating their support for a free and open Indo-Pacific.

On 4 June 2020, both countries elevated the bilateral Strategic Partnership concluded in 2009 to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP)