Nearly four years of the India trade deal: what ECTA delivered and where CECA stands

Since 1 January 2026, every product India exports to Australia has been eligible to enter the country duty free. That milestone, confirmed by India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, completed the tariff cuts Australia promised under the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which entered into force on 29 December 2022. As ECTA approaches four years in force, the larger deal both governments have spent years negotiating is still unfinished. At the Third Annual Summit in Melbourne on 9 July 2026, India’s readout records, Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Narendra Modi reaffirmed their commitment to its “early finalization”, but they set no completion date.

What ECTA cut on each side

ECTA came first by design. When the two countries relaunched talks on a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) in September 2021, DFAT records, they did so “with the intention of quickly concluding” ECTA.

Australia agreed to remove tariffs on 100 per cent of its tariff lines for Indian goods. According to India’s Press Information Bureau, 98.3 per cent of those lines became duty free immediately, and the remaining 1.7 per cent (113 lines) were phased out over five years, with all Indian exports eligible for zero duty from 1 January 2026.

India’s offer was narrower. The Indian government states that India granted preferential access on 70.3 per cent of its tariff lines, covering 90.6 per cent of trade value. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) puts it from the Australian side: tariffs were eliminated on more than 85 per cent of Australia’s goods exports to India on 29 December 2022, and Indian tariffs on over 90 per cent of those exports by value will be eliminated or reduced on full implementation by 2032.

Products that matter to Australian households and farms

DFAT lists specific outcomes for Australian exporters. Tariffs on wool, sheep meat, critical minerals and alumina were eliminated on 29 December 2022, as were tariffs on fresh rock lobster. Lentils received an immediate 50 per cent tariff reduction within an annual quota of 150,000 tonnes. Almonds received the same 50 per cent cut within a quota of 34,000 tonnes, and oranges and mandarins within a quota of 13,700 tonnes. Cotton gained duty free access within a quota of 300,000 bales a year. Tariffs on macadamias and avocados are being phased out over six years.

Wine received partial relief. According to DFAT and Wine Australia, India’s 150 per cent tariff on Australian wine with a cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value of over US$5 a 750mL bottle fell to 100 per cent on entry into force and is being cut in annual steps to 50 per cent. For wine with a CIF value over US$15 a bottle, the tariff fell to 75 per cent and is being reduced to 25 per cent. Both describe cuts only for bottles above US$5, and Wine Australia says the agreement “gave Australian wines above CIF US$5 per bottle a competitive advantage in the Indian market”.

DFAT reports that Australian agricultural exports to India rose 131 per cent, from A$1 billion in 2022 to A$2.3 billion in 2025, and that industrial exports excluding coal grew 70 per cent over the same period, from A$6 billion to A$10.2 billion.

For Indian businesses, India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said in November 2022, after Australia’s Parliament approved the deal, that it would especially benefit textiles, gems and jewellery, and pharmaceuticals. On the Australian side, DFAT states that Australians have saved more than A$504 million in duties on goods imported from India since ECTA came into force, including clothing, household linen, and automotive and electrical parts.

The tax fix for Indian technology firms

Another part of ECTA that mattered to India sat outside the tariff schedules. In 2016 the Full Court of the Federal Court dismissed Tech Mahindra’s appeal over Australian tax on payments for services the Indian company performed in India for Australian customers. The Parliamentary Library’s digest of the implementing bill explains that, because of the interaction of the double tax agreement and Australian law, the Australian Taxation Office was required to tax the offshore income of Indian firms providing technical services into Australia.

Through side letters to ECTA, the two countries agreed to resolve this. Parliament passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement Implementation) Act 2022, which inserted section 11J into the International Tax Agreements Act 1953. The section stops the double tax agreement from making payments for services covered by its paragraph 12(3)(g) taxable in Australia, where they are not royalties and would otherwise not be taxed here. It applies to years of income starting on or after 29 December 2022; on that day Goyal said double taxation for the IT sector would be over “from 1st April”. India’s Commerce Ministry, citing industry estimates, put the saving at more than US$200 million a year.

Visas and mobility

DFAT states that Australia’s Work and Holiday program places for India would be set at 1,000 per year. The Department of Home Affairs lists India’s annual cap for the Work and Holiday (subclass 462) visa at 1,000, and Indian applicants must enter a pre-application ballot. Registrations for the 2026-27 program year ballot closed on 25 June 2026.

Under a side letter, Australia committed to post-study stays for Indian students graduating in Australia of up to 18 months after a diploma or trade qualification, two years after a bachelor degree, three years after a masters degree and four years after a doctorate. Australia also undertook to extend possible stays from two to three years for bachelor graduates in STEM fields, including ICT, who earn First Class Honours. DFAT also lists an annual allocation of 1,800 places for qualified traditional chefs and yoga instructors entering as contractual service suppliers.

Separately from ECTA, Home Affairs runs the Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme (MATES), which allocates up to 3,000 places a year for Indian graduates aged 18 to 30 from the top 100 institutions on India’s National Institutional Ranking Framework, in fields including engineering, mining, renewable energy, ICT and artificial intelligence. Participants can live and work in Australia for up to two years.

Trade figures in context

DFAT’s country brief describes India as Australia’s fifth largest trading partner, with two-way trade in goods and services of A$50.2 billion in 2025. DFAT’s CECA page gives A$54.4 billion for the 2024-25 financial year.

In US dollars, the Indian government reports that India’s exports to Australia more than doubled from US$4 billion in 2020-21 to US$8.5 billion in 2024-25, with total bilateral trade of US$24.1 billion in 2024-25. The two governments’ figures use different currencies and periods, so they cannot be compared directly.

Where CECA stands after Melbourne

CECA has a long history. DFAT records that negotiations were first launched in May 2011 and suspended in 2016 before the 2021 relaunch. DFAT’s official position is that negotiations are ongoing for a CECA that will build on ECTA outcomes.

The joint statement from the 9 July summit, published by both governments, records that the leaders welcomed continued growth in two-way trade under ECTA and the reduction of non-tariff barriers, and re-affirmed their commitment to progressing an “ambitious, balanced and mutually beneficial” CECA. The statement also acknowledged complementarities between “Make in India” and “Future Made in Australia” and welcomed a CEO Forum held during the visit. Neither government published a deadline.

Most recently, India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry reports that Goyal met Australia’s Minister for Trade and Tourism on the sidelines of the G20 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Milwaukee, in the United States, held on 30 September and 1 October 2026. According to the Press Trust of India, Goyal said on social media that he and Don Farrell “discussed expediting” CECA. No published account of the meeting gives a completion date.

What it means

ECTA’s record since December 2022 runs from wool and lentils heading north to clothing and linen heading south, plus a tax change Indian industry valued at more than US$200 million a year. It also has limits: its wine cuts cover only bottles valued above US$5, and several agricultural gains sit inside annual quotas. For Australian businesses weighing the Indian market, the operative rules remain those in ECTA. CECA would add to them only once it is concluded and in force, and as of 5 October 2026 neither government has said when that will happen.