India–Australia trade corridor ECTA in force 29 December 2022 · CECA under negotiation

Rendered from the All Frontier Global corridor registry · every figure below carries a numbered source

India and Australia trade under an Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement — ECTA to both governments, which name it in mirror order and are both recorded here rather than one being normalised[1][2] — in force since 29 December 2022[1]. Two official statistical series describe the corridor, one Australian in Australian dollars covering goods and services, one Indian in US dollars covering merchandise only, and the registry forbids blending them: they are rendered separately below and never summed, converted or reconciled. Two figures on this page are derived rather than stated, and each appears only alongside the derivation that produced it. The Australian commodity baskets carry a recorded extraction conflict — the fact sheet’s export and import headings came back transposed on repeated fetches — and that conflict is attached to the tables themselves rather than settled out of sight. This page renders the corridor registry record: the agreement, the unconcluded successor negotiation, both series side by side, utilisation, mechanics, logistics, and the figures no official source would supply.

At a glance

• AgreementEconomic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA)[1]Signed 2 April 2022[2], in force 29 December 2022[1]. India's first trade agreement with a developed economy.[3]
• Successor negotiationCECA under negotiation, not concluded[4]11th Round — held in New Delhi from 18-23 August 2025.[5] No official source states a conclusion date, a target date or a deadline, and no twelfth round is on record.
• Headline trade — Australian series$49.1 bn two-way in goods and services, 2023[4]The only directly stated Australian two-way total located, on DFAT-adjusted Australian Bureau of Statistics data. Its component figures are a year newer, and the 2024 total is derived rather than stated.
• Headline trade — Indian seriesUS$24.1 bn merchandise, FY2024-25[6]A different currency, a different reporting year and a merchandise-only basis. The two series are not added, converted or reconciled anywhere on this page.

The agreement

Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA); also rendered by Austrade as 'Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AI-ECTA)'.[1]

The two governments use mirror-image names for the same instrument. Australia leads with 'Australia-India'; India leads with 'India-Australia'. Both are recorded rather than one being normalised.[1]

India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), styled 'IndAus ECTA' in the Indian signature release and 'Ind-Aus CECA' for the successor negotiation.[2]

PIB's own headline on the entry-into-force release transposes the words as 'Economic and Cooperation Trade Agreement'. Recorded as published.[2]

Signed 2 April 2022[2]; entered into force 29 December 2022[1].

Signature: Corroborated by the DFAT CECA page: 'ECTA was signed on 2 April 2022 and entered into force on 29 December 2022.' Also corroborated by PIB PRID=2233417 (27 February 2026): ECTA was 'signed in April 2022, marked India's first trade agreement with a developed economy'.[2][4]

Verbatim: ECTA was 'signed in April 2022, marked India's first trade agreement with a developed economy'. This is an Indian framing; no Australian source located makes an equivalent claim.[3]

What each side opened — four framings, kept apart

Each government states the same two concessions in its own unit of account: Australia in percentage of its exports by value, India in percentage of its tariff lines. The registry records all four statements separately and forbids merging them into a single coverage figure.

• India’s market access for Australia — Australian framing[1]

  'Over 85 per cent of Australian goods exports by value to India are now tariff free, rising to 90 per cent by 1 January 2026'. The outcomes overview states: 'Indian tariffs on over 90 per cent of Australia's goods exports to India by value will be eliminated' and 'Tariffs on over 85 per cent of our exports will be eliminated on 29 December 2022, and tariffs on a further 5 per cent of our exports will be phased to 0 per cent over 2, 4 or 6 years.'

  Australia states its access in terms of PERCENTAGE OF ITS EXPORTS BY VALUE. India states the same concession in terms of PERCENTAGE OF ITS TARIFF LINES. The two framings are not the same measure and are recorded separately — see the Indian framing field below and Not yet verified.

• India’s market access for Australia — Indian framing[6]

  'India granted preferential market access on 70.3% of its tariff lines, covering 90.6% of trade value'.

  The 90.6% of trade value is close to the Australian 'over 90 per cent ... by value' but is not stated to be the same measure by either government. The 70.3% of tariff lines has no Australian counterpart figure. Do not merge these into a single coverage statement.

• Australia’s market access for India — Australian framing[1]

  '96 per cent of imports from India are now tariff free, rising to 100 per cent by 1 January 2026'.

  Australia's schedule reached full elimination on 1 January 2026, inside the window covered by this file.

• Australia’s market access for India — Indian framing[6]

  'Australia granted preferential market access on 100% of its tariff lines, corresponding to 100% of imports from India.' 'Of this, 98.3% of tariff lines became duty-free immediately upon implementation, while the remaining 1.7% (113 tariff lines) are being phased out over five years.' From 1 January 2026, 'all Indian exports are eligible for zero-duty market access'.

  The Indian and Australian statements of Australia's own concession differ in their day-one figure: India says 98.3% of tariff lines were duty-free immediately, Australia says '96 per cent of imports from India are now tariff free'. One is a share of LINES and the other a share of IMPORTS. Both are recorded; neither is reconciled by any source located.

The final staging milestone

1 January 2026 — on the Australian side, tariffs on 100 per cent of imports from India; on the Indian side, Australian goods exports 90 per cent tariff free by value.[1][6]

Services commitments, in opposite directions

'Australia has offered commitments across around 135 sub-sectors'.[3]

Indian statement of AUSTRALIA'S offer. Not corroborated by any Australian source located.[3]

'Australian service suppliers will benefit from full or partial access across more than 85 Indian services sectors and subsectors.'[8]

The Australian commercial-significance estimate

'These results are commercially significant for up to $14.8 billion worth of Australia's current merchandise trade destined for India each year.'[8]

The Joint Committee

Article 12.1: the Joint Committee is 'composed of government representatives of the Parties at the level of senior officials or, when agreed by the Parties, at the level of Ministers'. Article 12.2: it shall 'meet within 1 year of entry into force of this Agreement. Thereafter, it shall meet every 2 years unless the Parties agree otherwise'.[9]

Article 12.4 functions: assess and monitor implementation; review operation; consider trade and investment improvements; recommend amendments; supervise subcommittees; adopt rules of procedure. No separate standalone review clause with a fixed horizon was located in Chapter 12.[9]

Primary official sources for the agreement position: [1][4][10][11][8][12][13][14][15][9][16][17][18][7][19][20][21][22][23][6][24][25][2][26][5][27][28][29][30][3]

The successor negotiation

Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA); Indian usage 'India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (Ind-Aus CECA)'.[4]

UNDER NEGOTIATION, NOT CONCLUDED, NO SIGNATURE AND NO TARGET DATE STATED BY EITHER GOVERNMENT. DFAT's current negotiations page states: 'Negotiations are ongoing for a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which will build upon ECTA outcomes to capitalise on the potential for closer economic ties between Australia and India.' The DFAT ECTA page words it as: 'Negotiations have now resumed for an ambitious Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)'.[4][1]

• Latest leader-level statement[26]

  'They re-affirmed their commitment to progressing an ambitious, balanced and mutually beneficial Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)'.

  THIS IS THE LATEST OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON CECA LOCATED IN THIS PASS, dated 9 July 2026, five weeks before the accessed date. Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese, Third Australia-India Annual Summit, Melbourne, 8-10 July 2026. The identical formulation appears in the Australian text at pm.gov.au. The wording is a re-affirmation of commitment to PROGRESSING the agreement; it announces no conclusion, no round, and no date.

• Latest ministerial statement[21]

  'discussions towards concluding a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with India'.

  Australian ministerial-level wording, 13 August 2025. This is a multi-partner trade communique in which India is one item among several; it states no CECA status beyond 'discussions' and no timing.

• Last formal negotiating round[5]

  11th Round — held in New Delhi from 18-23 August 2025.

  Verbatim: 'The 11th Round of India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (Ind-Aus CECA) negotiations' was 'held in New Delhi from 18-23 August 2025'. Chapters covered: 'Goods, Services and Mobility, Digital Trade, Rules of Origin, Legal and Institutional Provisions, Environment, Labour, and Gender'. The release states both partners 'will continue the negotiations in virtual intersessions' and names NO date or venue for a 12th round. NO OFFICIAL RECORD OF A 12TH ROUND WAS LOCATED IN THIS PASS — see Not yet verified.

• Preceding round[27]

  10th Round — held in Sydney, on five tracks.

  Recorded for sequence only. The round date was not extracted in this pass.

• Rounds completed at the First Joint Committee[28]

  'nine rounds' completed as at the First Joint Committee Meeting, 4 May 2024.

  Discussions were held 'at the chief negotiators level' after 'nine rounds', with the goal of reaching 'a balanced outcome' and exploring 'areas of effective co-operation in various sectors, going beyond the traditional approach'.

• Australian statement of purpose[17]

  CECA 'aims to build on ECTA by expanding market-opening opportunities for business and industry in both countries.'

  The roadmap PDF carries no explicit publication date on its face; it references events through November 2024.

Trade flows

The Australian series — calendar year 2024

Series owner: Australia — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, from DFAT-adjusted Australian Bureau of Statistics data. Period as published: Calendar year 2024. Basis: Goods and services combined[10].

Exports: Verbatim: 'Australia's exports to India totalled $35.5 billion' in 2024. Currency is printed on the page as a bare '$'; read as Australian dollars because the publisher is DFAT, but the page does not print 'A$'. See Not yet verified.[10]

Imports: Verbatim: 'imports from India totalled $17.5 billion in 2024.' Same currency caveat as above.[10]

The 2024 two-way total is derived. Here is the derivation.

The stated 2023 total: DIRECTLY STATED, NOT DERIVED. Verbatim: 'India is Australia's fifth largest trading partner with two-way trade in goods and services valued at $49.1 billion in 2023.' This is the only officially stated two-way goods-and-services total located on either side in this pass. Note it is for 2023, one year older than the component figures above.[4]

'India is Australia's fifth largest trading partner'[4]

Stated in the same sentence as the $49.1 billion 2023 two-way figure, so the rank is on a 2023 goods-and-services basis.[4]

India ranks 5th as a destination for Australian exports and 12th as a source of Australian imports.[11]

Printed on the fact sheet as 'Destination Ranking: 5' and 'Source Ranking: 12', on the 2023-24 reference period. The asymmetry — a top-5 export destination but only the 12th-largest import source — is the structural signature of this corridor and is consistent with the roughly 2:1 surplus Australia runs.[11]

The Australian series — financial year 2023-24, and its recorded direction conflict

Series owner: Australia — DFAT-adjusted ABS data. Period as published: Australian financial year 2023-24 (July 2023 - June 2024). Basis: Goods and services combined[11].

Imports: A$15.9 billion. Same direction-assignment conflict and same corroboration as the export figure above.[11]

This financial-year pair is one year older than the calendar-2024 pair above and is retained because it is the only Australian source located that carries a commodity-level basket. Do not mix the two periods.[11][10]

The Indian series — merchandise, FY2024-25

Series owner: India — Ministry of Commerce and Industry, via the Press Information Bureau. Period as published: FY2024-25 (April 2024 - March 2025). Basis: MERCHANDISE ONLY — excludes services[6].

Total: Verbatim: 'During 2024-25, total bilateral trade stood at USD 24.1 billion, while India's exports to Australia recorded an 8% growth over the previous year.'[6]

Exports: Verbatim: 'India's exports to Australia have more than doubled, rising from USD 4 billion in FY 2020-21 to USD 8.5 billion in FY 2024-25.' Growth of 8% over FY2023-24.[6]

The Indian import figure is derived. Here is the derivation.

The part year that follows, and why it is not the headline

US$19.3 bn for FY2025-26 April-February[6].

The Indian series over time

FY2020-21: USD 12.2 billion total merchandise trade, India's exports USD 4 billion. FY2022-23: USD 26 billion total. FY2023-24: USD 24 billion total, India's exports growing 14%. FY2024-25: USD 24.1 billion total, India's exports USD 8.5 billion.[6][24]

Verbatim from the two-year release: 'Since its signing, bilateral merchandise trade has more than doubled, surging from USD 12.2 billion in 2020-21 to USD 26 billion in 2022-23.' And: 'Total trade, however, moderated in the year 2023-24 to USD 24 billion in 2023-24, with India's exports to Australia growing by 14%.' The peak on this series is FY2022-23; the corridor has NOT regained that level on the Indian merchandise series in the two full years since.[24][6]

India's exports to Australia have roughly doubled across the ECTA period while total bilateral merchandise trade has been flat to slightly down from its FY2022-23 peak. Both statements are the Indian government's own; neither is contradicted by any Australian source located, but neither is corroborated by one either, because the series are not comparable.[6]

The bilateral target, and the projections

'to achieve the target of trade to reach AUD 100 billion by 2030 between India and Australia'[24]

'By the end of 2025 Australian exporters to India will have saved around $2 billion in tariffs due to ECTA'[17]

Investment stocks

Verbatim: 'Australia's stock of investment in India was $27.6 billion' at end of 2024. Currency printed as a bare '$'.[10]

Verbatim: 'India's total investment in Australia was $50.6 billion' at end of 2024. India's investment stock in Australia is roughly 1.8 times Australia's stock in India — the reverse of the goods-trade asymmetry, in which Australia exports roughly twice what it imports.[10]

Corroborating sources

• Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — Australia-India CECA negotiations page[4]

  Independent statement of the Australian two-way total: 'India is Australia's fifth largest trading partner with two-way trade in goods and services valued at $49.1 billion in 2023.' Also independently confirms 'ECTA was signed on 2 April 2022 and entered into force on 29 December 2022.'

• Austrade — Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AI-ECTA)[7]

  Operational confirmation of entry into force: 'The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) benefits, including tariff reductions, started 29 December 2022. Further reductions started 1 January 2023.'

• Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 'India's Trade Partnerships Powering Global Integration and Growth', 27 February 2026[3]

  Independently repeats India's exports to Australia growing '8% in FY 2024-25' and 'preferential market access across 100% of Australian tariff lines'; adds gems and jewellery exports rose '16% during April-November 2025' and that 'Australia has offered commitments across around 135 sub-sectors'.

• Prime Minister of Australia — Third Australia-India Annual Summit Joint Statement[19]

  Australian-side text of the same 9 July 2026 joint statement recorded from PIB, confirming the CECA formulation and the ECTA sentence: leaders 'welcomed continued growth in two way trade under the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), and reducing non-tariff barriers'. Confirms summit dates 8-10 July 2026 in Melbourne.

Where the record conflicts with itself

The registry records conflicting and unreconciled official statements as conflicts. Nothing below is averaged, bridged or decided between; where the registry itself records a basis for the reading it uses, that basis is shown in its own words.

• The commodity baskets: export and import headings returned transposed[11][10]

  A$34.2 billion. DIRECTION ASSIGNMENT CARRIES A RECORDED CONFLICT — the automated extraction of this two-column PDF returned the export and import headings transposed on repeated fetches. The assignment used here is the one corroborated by three independent official statements: (a) the DFAT India country brief describes Australian 'total exports (excluding price volatile coal)', making coal an Australian export; (b) the same brief states 'Education is Australia's largest service export to India, valued at $9 billion in 2024', making education-related travel an Australian export; (c) the fact sheet's own ranking fields place India 5th as an export destination and 12th as an import source, which requires the larger column to be exports. See Not yet verified for the full conflict record.

• The two governments’ headline totals cannot be reconciled[10][4][6]

  THE TWO GOVERNMENTS' HEADLINE TOTALS CANNOT BE RECONCILED AND MUST NEVER BE BLENDED. The Australian series gives $35.5 billion exports and $17.5 billion imports for calendar 2024, and a stated two-way total of $49.1 billion for calendar 2023, all goods and services in Australian dollars. The Indian series gives USD 24.1 billion for FY2024-25, merchandise only, in US dollars on an April-March year. The gap is roughly two-to-one. No official source located reconciles them, converts between them, or acknowledges the discrepancy. The largest single identified driver is education-related travel — an Australian services export of around A$8.9 to 9 billion that is entirely absent from the Indian merchandise series — but no official source quantifies the full bridge, and the residual after education is still large.

• Australia’s own concession, stated two ways[6][1]

  The Indian and Australian statements of Australia's own concession differ in their day-one figure: India says 98.3% of tariff lines were duty-free immediately, Australia says '96 per cent of imports from India are now tariff free'. One is a share of LINES and the other a share of IMPORTS. Both are recorded; neither is reconciled by any source located.

• India’s grant: tariff lines against export value[1][6]

  Australia states its access in terms of PERCENTAGE OF ITS EXPORTS BY VALUE. India states the same concession in terms of PERCENTAGE OF ITS TARIFF LINES. The two framings are not the same measure and are recorded separately — see the Indian framing field below and Not yet verified.

  The 90.6% of trade value is close to the Australian 'over 90 per cent ... by value' but is not stated to be the same measure by either government. The 70.3% of tariff lines has no Australian counterpart figure. Do not merge these into a single coverage statement.

• Wine: one page, two commencement dates[12]

  THE PAGE PRINTS '22 December 2022' FOR THE ABOVE-US$5 BAND AND '29 December 2022' FOR THE ABOVE-US$15 BAND. Entry into force was 29 December 2022 on four other official pages, so the 22 December date cannot be an entry-into-force step. It is recorded verbatim and is NOT silently corrected. See Not yet verified. Substantively: wine is liberalised by MINIMUM IMPORT PRICE BAND, not by volume quota, and NO BAND REACHES ZERO — the floor is 50% for the above-US$5 band and 25% for the above-US$15 band after nine years, so Australian wine still faces a substantial Indian tariff at the end of staging. The decade-long WPI indexation of the price bands means the real value of the concession erodes with Indian inflation between indexation events.

• The currency is not printed beside the Australian headline figures[10][4][24]

  CURRENCY IS NOT PRINTED ON THE DFAT PAGES CARRYING THE HEADLINE AUSTRALIAN FIGURES. The India country brief prints a bare '$' for exports ($35.5 billion), imports ($17.5 billion), education services ($9 billion), duty savings ($310 million) and both investment stocks; the CECA page does the same for the $49.1 billion two-way total. These are read as Australian dollars because the publisher is an Australian government department and the fact sheet's parallel figures are explicitly denominated 'A$b', but no fetched page states the currency next to those numbers. Note also that the AUD 100 billion by 2030 target is stated in AUSTRALIAN dollars by an INDIAN release whose every other figure is in US dollars.

• Coal is absent from every Indian list of key imports[6][11][10]

  STRIKING OMISSION: COAL IS NOT NAMED IN EITHER INDIAN LIST OF KEY IMPORTS FROM AUSTRALIA, despite being A$16.1 billion and roughly 47 per cent of the Australian export basket on the Australian series. No official Indian source located names coal as a leading import from Australia in an ECTA context. This is recorded as an observed difference in what the two governments choose to publish, not as a contradiction of fact — neither government states the other is wrong. See Not yet verified.

Top goods, each direction

Every valued basket on this page belongs to the Australian series, because it is the only series that publishes one: India names sectors and product lines for this corridor and attaches no commodity values to them. The two valued tables are also the tables carrying the recorded direction-assignment conflict, so each is published with that conflict attached directly beneath it, in the registry’s own words. The registry does not resolve the conflict and neither does this page.

India’s exports to Australia — FY2024-25 and FY2025-26 part-year, sectors only

SECTORS ONLY, NO VALUES PUBLISHED. Top export sectors named: textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and agricultural products. Newly emerging lines named: Calcined Petroleum Coke, High-Capacity Diesel Generating Sets, Air Liquefaction Machinery, gold studded with diamonds, turbojets. Gems and jewellery exports rose '16% during April-November 2025'.[6]

India’s imports from Australia — FY2024-25, sectors only

SECTORS ONLY, NO VALUES PUBLISHED. Key import categories named: base metals, raw cotton, chemicals, fertilisers and pulses. The two-year release names 'Metalliferous ores, cotton, wood and wood products' as raw materials that 'have fuelled India's industries'.[6][24]

Utilisation and outcomes

This is the only corridor in the registry carrying measured preference-utilisation rates. They are three years old, undefined as to what they measure, and stated from one side only — all of which the registry records alongside them rather than behind them.

• Preference utilisation rates — the only measured utilisation figures located for this corridor[24]

  Verbatim: 'Exchange of preferential import data has commenced between both countries, highlighting the effective implementation of the agreement in 2023.' And: 'The data reveals export utilization at 79% and import utilization at 84%.'

  THESE ARE THE ONLY OFFICIALLY STATED ECTA UTILISATION RATES LOCATED ON EITHER SIDE. They are stated from the Indian perspective and relate to calendar 2023 data. The release does not define whether 'export utilization' means the share of eligible Indian export value claiming preference, or the share of lines, or the share of shipments. No later utilisation figure was located, so as at 18 August 2026 the most recent measured utilisation evidence in this corridor is roughly three years old. By contrast, the India-UK corridor in this pipeline has no utilisation data at all — ECTA is the better-measured of the two, but only barely.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 'India-Australia ECTA marks two years of success', 29 December 2024

• Institutional mechanism for preferential data exchange[28]

  The First Joint Committee Meeting 'established an institutional mechanism, first of its kind for FTAs, for regular exchange of preferential import data on monthly basis.'

  India claims this monthly preferential-data exchange is 'first of its kind for FTAs'. It is the mechanism that produced the 79%/84% figures above. No output of this mechanism has been published by either government since the 29 December 2024 release.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau — First Joint Committee Meeting under Ind-Aus ECTA, 4 May 2024

• Australian-side duty savings on imports from India[10]

  'Australians have saved over $310 million in duties on goods imported from India since ECTA entered into force.'

  Cumulative since 29 December 2022. Currency printed as a bare '$'. This measures the benefit to AUSTRALIAN IMPORTERS of Australia's own tariff elimination; it is NOT the benefit to Australian exporters into India, which the DFAT roadmap projects separately at around $2 billion by end-2025.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — India country brief

• Australian export growth under ECTA[10]

  'Between 2022 and 2024, total exports (excluding price volatile coal) are up 95 per cent' and 'agricultural exports have skyrocketed to 146 per cent'. Industrial exports excluding coal 'increased by 84 per cent'. Total imports 'increased by 32 per cent', agricultural imports 'a 35 per cent increase', and non-diesel industrial products 'a 30 percent increase'.

  NOTE THE EXCLUSION: the headline 95 per cent growth figure is stated EXCLUDING COAL, which is by a wide margin the single largest Australian export to India. Australia's published growth story for ECTA is therefore explicitly a non-coal story, and the corresponding all-inclusive growth rate is not published. The phrase 'skyrocketed to 146 per cent' is ambiguous as published — growth OF 146 per cent or growth TO 146 per cent of a base — and is recorded verbatim without interpretation.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — India country brief

• Indian export diversification under ECTA[25]

  New export lines named by India include 'Calcined Petroleum Coke, High-Capacity Diesel Generating Sets, Air Liquefaction Machinery'. The two-year release names 'Gold studded with diamonds and turbojets' as evidence of diversification. Sectors reported as benefiting: textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and agriculture, with electronics and engineering named as future potential.

  India publishes diversification as NAMED PRODUCT LINES AND SECTORS, never as export values by commodity. No Indian commodity-level value for Australia-bound exports was located. India's exports to Australia grew 4.4% during April 2024 - February 2025 against the same period a year earlier.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau — ECTA celebrates 3rd anniversary of signing, 2 April 2025, and the two-year release of 29 December 2024

• Education services — the largest single services flow in the corridor[10]

  'Education is Australia's largest service export to India, valued at $9 billion in 2024.' In 2025 'there were 145,390 Indian student enrolments with Australian providers', representing 'approximately 16 per cent' of Australia's international student enrolments.

  Education-related travel at A$8.9 billion on the 2023-24 fact sheet is the second-largest single Australian export line to India after coal, and larger than India's entire services export basket to Australia. It is invisible in the Indian merchandise series, which is the principal reason the two headline totals diverge so widely. The enrolment figure is a 2025 count against a 2024 value — different years, recorded as published.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — India country brief

Mechanics and open issues

ECTA is an operating agreement, so its mechanics are live: origin thresholds, staging schedules, quota lines and mobility caps. Each entry is recorded as the registry states it, including the points where a DFAT summary page and the treaty text say different things and the registry keeps both.

• Rules of origin — originating criteria and the dual QVC threshold[14]

  Under Article 4.2 goods are originating if 'wholly obtained or produced in the territory of one or both of the Parties' (Article 4.4), or 'produced entirely in the territory of one or both of the Parties, using non-originating materials' that meet Article 4.3. Article 4.3(1) sets the general rule: non-originating materials must undergo 'at least a change in tariff sub-heading (CTSH) level of the Harmonized System' AND the 'QVC of the good is not less than 35 per cent of the FOB value as per build-up formula or 45 per cent of the FOB value calculated as per build-down formula'.

  ECTA HAS A SINGLE HEADLINE VALUE-ADDITION THRESHOLD, WHICH DISTINGUISHES IT SHARPLY FROM THE INDIA-UK CETA IN THIS PIPELINE, WHERE NO UNIVERSAL PERCENTAGE EXISTS AND THE THRESHOLD IS SET PER PRODUCT LINE. Note the threshold is a PAIR, not one number: 35 per cent build-up OR 45 per cent build-down, and the two are not interchangeable because they are computed on different numerators. Quoting '35 per cent' alone without naming the build-up method is incomplete. The general rule is CUMULATIVE — CTSH change AND the value test — not an either/or, subject to the product-specific rules in Annex 4B.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA official text, Chapter 4 Rules of Origin

• Rules of origin — QVC calculation formulas[14]

  Article 4.6 sets both methods. Build-down: 'QVC equals FOB value [minus] value of non originating materials over FOB value times 100'. Build-up: 'QVC equals Value of Originating materials over FOB value times 100'. Values are determined under the Customs Valuation Agreement and costs recorded under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

  The build-up method counts only originating material value, so it yields a lower percentage for the same good than build-down, which is why its threshold is set lower at 35 per cent against 45 per cent.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA Chapter 4, Article 4.6

• Rules of origin — de minimis tolerance[14]

  Article 4.8(1): a non-textile good that fails the tariff-classification change is still originating if the 'value of non-originating materials ... does not exceed 10 per cent of the FOB value'. Article 4.8(2): for textiles of HS Chapters 50-63 the test is by weight — goods qualify if the 'total weight of all such material does not exceed 10 per cent of the total weight'.

  TWO DIFFERENT 10 PER CENT TESTS ON TWO DIFFERENT BASES — value for general goods, WEIGHT for textiles. The DFAT business guide states the de minimis more loosely as 'If the value of all non-originating materials does not exceed 10 per cent of the value of the good, the product will qualify', which omits the textile weight variant. The treaty text governs.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA Chapter 4, Article 4.8

• Rules of origin — cumulation and direct consignment[14]

  Article 4.5 bilateral cumulation: 'Goods and materials originating exclusively in the territory of a Party ... incorporated in the production of a good in the territory of the other Party shall be considered to originate in the territory of the other Party'. Article 4.14(1)(a) requires goods be 'transported directly from the exporting Party to the importing Party'; Article 4.14(1)(b) permits transit through non-parties provided no 'subsequent production or other operation' occurs beyond unloading, reloading, storage, repacking, relabelling and operations preserving condition, with customs control maintained throughout.

  Cumulation is BILATERAL ONLY — there is no diagonal or regional cumulation with third countries in ECTA. The direct-consignment rule matters operationally in this corridor because there is no officially designated direct shipping service between the two countries (see logistics), so transhipment through third-country hubs is the norm and must be documented to preserve origin.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA Chapter 4, Articles 4.5 and 4.14

• Proof of origin — certificate requirements and validity[14]

  Article 4.19(1) provides for an 'issuing body or authority, as appropriate' designated by each Party; Article 4.1(i) defines this as a 'body or authority designated by each Party for issuance of Certificates of Origin'. Article 4.15(3) requires the certificate be 'in writing or electronic format', 'in the English language', 'specify that the good is originating and meets the requirements of this Chapter', contain the Annex 4A information, be 'valid for 12 months from the date on which it is completed or issued', 'apply to single importation of one or multiple goods', and 'bear a unique Certificate of Origin number'. Article 4.16(3): certificates are 'issued prior to or within 5 working days of the date of exportation', with retrospective issuance allowed up to 12 months post-shipment with documented justification.

  ECTA USES THIRD-PARTY CERTIFICATION BY DESIGNATED BODIES, NOT SELF-CERTIFICATION BY EXPORTERS. This is a materially heavier compliance model than the registered-exporter approach used in some newer agreements, and the 5-working-day issuance window is tight.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA Chapter 4, Articles 4.15, 4.16, 4.19

• Proof of origin — named issuing bodies[16]

  The DFAT business guide names the Australian issuing bodies as the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group), and Ozdocs. For the Indian side the guide names no issuing body and directs users to India's 'Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs'.

  ASYMMETRIC DOCUMENTATION: the Australian issuing bodies are named specifically, the Indian ones are not named by any source located in this pass — only the supervising authority, CBIC, is identified. No DGFT public notice or CBIC circular designating Indian ECTA certificate-issuing agencies was located. See Not yet verified.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — 'Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement: Guide to using ECTA'

• Wine — price-band tariff staging, the signature Australian offensive interest[12]

  Bottles above US$5: '150% tariff cut to 100% on 22 December 2022 and phased to 50% over 9 years'. Bottles above US$15: '150% tariff cut to 75% on 29 December 2022 and phased to 25% over 9 years'. The 'minimum import price will be indexed every 10 years based on Indian wholesale price index'.

  THE PAGE PRINTS '22 December 2022' FOR THE ABOVE-US$5 BAND AND '29 December 2022' FOR THE ABOVE-US$15 BAND. Entry into force was 29 December 2022 on four other official pages, so the 22 December date cannot be an entry-into-force step. It is recorded verbatim and is NOT silently corrected. See Not yet verified. Substantively: wine is liberalised by MINIMUM IMPORT PRICE BAND, not by volume quota, and NO BAND REACHES ZERO — the floor is 50% for the above-US$5 band and 25% for the above-US$15 band after nine years, so Australian wine still faces a substantial Indian tariff at the end of staging. The decade-long WPI indexation of the price bands means the real value of the concession erodes with Indian inflation between indexation events.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA benefits for Australian goods exporters

• Tariff staging — resources and energy[12]

  Coal: 'immediate elimination of tariffs on 29 December 2022' with 'phased elimination of tariffs on bituminous coal over 4 years'. LNG: 'tariffs locked at 0 per cent on 29 December 2022'. Alumina: 'immediate elimination of tariffs on entry into force on 29 December 2022'. Titanium dioxide: 'immediate elimination of tariffs on entry into force'. Metallic ores (manganese, copper, nickel, cobalt, aluminium, tin): 'immediate elimination of tariffs on 29 December 2022'. Critical minerals: 'Elimination of tariffs on 29 December 2022 for most critical minerals such as zirconium and titanium.'

  'Locked at 0 per cent' for LNG and for barley and oats is a BINDING, NOT A CUT — the applied rate was already zero and ECTA prevents its re-imposition. This is a real but different concession from an elimination and should not be counted as a tariff reduction. Bituminous coal, the largest line in the corridor, was staged over 4 years rather than eliminated immediately, so its full liberalisation falls around 29 December 2026 — after the accessed date of this file.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA benefits for Australian goods exporters and ECTA benefits for critical minerals and resources sectors

• Tariff staging — agriculture, including the two quota lines[12]

  Sheepmeat: duty of 30% subject to 'immediate elimination of tariffs on 29 December 2022'. Wool: 'immediate elimination of tariffs on 29 December 2022'. Barley and oats: 'tariffs locked at 0 per cent on 29 December 2022'. Fresh rock lobster: 'elimination of tariffs on fresh rock lobster on 29 December 2022'. Almonds: 'immediate 50% tariff reduction within an annual quota of 34,000 tonnes'. Lentils: 'immediate 50% tariff reduction within an annual quota of 150,000 tonnes'. Avocados and cherries: 'phased elimination of tariffs over 6 years'. Pharmaceuticals: 'phased elimination of tariffs over 4 years'.

  ALMONDS AND LENTILS ARE THE ONLY TARIFF-RATE-QUOTA LINES LOCATED, and both receive only a 50 PER CENT TARIFF REDUCTION, not elimination, and only WITHIN the quota. Out-of-quota treatment is not stated on this page. India's sensitive agricultural lines are protected by this structure. Avocados and cherries on a 6-year stage complete around 29 December 2028. Pharmaceuticals on a 4-year stage complete around 29 December 2026.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA benefits for Australian goods exporters

• Trade in goods — acceleration, TRQ administration and non-tariff measures[15]

  Article 2.3(2): 'Each Party shall progressively eliminate or reduce its customs duties on originating goods in accordance with its Schedule in Annex 2A.' Article 2.3(3): 'On request of a Party, the Parties shall consult to consider accelerating the elimination of customs duties'. Article 2.3(4): 'A Party may at any time unilaterally accelerate the elimination of customs duties'. Article 2.12(2)(c) gives the Subcommittee responsibility for 'addressing issues relating to the administration and operation of tariff rate quotas'. Article 2.9(1): 'A Party shall not adopt or maintain any non-tariff measure on the importation of any good of the other Party ... except in accordance with the WTO Agreement or this Agreement.'

  The unilateral acceleration right in Article 2.3(4) is unconditional. No official source located records either Party having exercised it. The non-tariff-measure discipline in Article 2.9(1) is the hook behind the leaders' 9 July 2026 reference to 'reducing non-tariff barriers'.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA official text, Chapter 2 Trade in Goods

• Mobility — student and professional outcomes under ECTA[8]

  Post-study work rights: 'stays of up to 18 months' for diploma and trade qualifications, 'stays of up to two years' for bachelor degrees, 'stays of up to three years' for masters, and 'stays of up to four years' for doctoral graduates. Work and Holiday programme: 'Places in Australia's Work and Holiday program will be set at 1,000 per year.' Traditional chefs and yoga instructors: a 'combined total of 1,800 per year of qualified professional traditional chefs and yoga instructors'.

  The Indian entry-into-force release frames the same outcomes politically as '1+ lakh Indian students eligible for post-study work visas (18 months to 4 years)', '10 lakh (1 million) jobs estimated in India', and 'annual visa quotas for Yoga teachers and chefs'. The 1,800 chefs-and-yoga figure is a COMBINED annual cap across both occupations, not 1,800 each. Coincidentally the same number as the India-UK CETA mobility quota in this pipeline — the two are unrelated and must not be cross-referenced.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA benefits for Australia (overview)

• Mobility — MATES, a unilateral Australian scheme outside ECTA[23]

  The Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme provides 'up to 3,000 Subclass 403 MATES stream visas each year' for 'Indian nationals', for a stay of 'up to 2 years'. The fact sheet states applicants must be 'aged 30 or younger (inclusive) at the time of application', hold a 'Bachelor's degree or higher', have 'graduated within 2 years from an eligible educational institution', and have an 'overall IELTS or equivalent score of at least 6, with a minimum score of 5'. Eligible fields are renewable energy, mining, engineering, ICT, artificial intelligence, FinTech and AgriTech. Entry: '24 months from the date of first entry' with '12 months to make their first entry'. Selection is by pre-application ballot — 'Those selected in the ballot will then be invited to apply for the visa.'

  MATES IS NOT PART OF ECTA. It is a separate Australian migration arrangement, is ONE-DIRECTIONAL (Indian nationals to Australia; no reciprocal Australian access to India is stated on either page), and is capped at 3,000 primary applicants per programme year. The fact sheet's statement that 'MATES will be open for applications from late 2024' is superseded by the visa page, which describes an operating ballot as at its 14 October 2025 update. No official count of MATES visas actually granted was located.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Home Affairs — MATES visa (subclass 403) page, last updated 14 October 2025, and the Home Affairs MATES fact sheet

• Customs facilitation — Authorised Economic Operator mutual recognition[30]

  India's Union Cabinet approved 'the signing and ratification' of a Mutual Recognition Arrangement of Authorised Economic Operators between the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Department of Revenue, Government of India and the Department of Home Affairs incorporating the Australian Border Force. The arrangement aims at 'providing reciprocal benefits to accredited and trusted exporters of both the signatories in the clearance of goods by the Customs authorities of the importing country', and at 'higher facilitation to trade at the global level'.

  SEPARATE INSTRUMENT FROM ECTA, approved eight months after ECTA entered into force. The release records CABINET APPROVAL TO SIGN AND RATIFY, not signature or entry into force; no official source located in this pass records the AEO MRA actually being signed or taking effect. The release does not state specific operational benefits such as reduced inspection rates or clearance times. This is the closest thing to a trade-facilitation mechanic in the corridor.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 'Cabinet approves Mutual Recognition Arrangement of Authorised Economic Operators between India and Australia', 16 August 2023

• Organic products — mutual recognition of certification[29]

  A Mutual Recognition Arrangement on organic products was 'signed on 24th September 2025 at Vanijya Bhavan, New Delhi' between the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) of India and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) of Australia, in the presence of Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal, APEDA Chairman Abhishek Dev and Australian First Assistant Secretary Tom Black. It covers unprocessed plant products 'excluding seaweed, aquatic plants, and greenhouse crops', processed foods with plant-origin ingredients including certified organic third-country ingredients processed in either nation, and wine. It will 'simplify the compliance requirements and create new opportunities for the farmers and exporters'.

  A NON-TARIFF measure, addressing conformity assessment rather than duty. Scale is small: 'India's organic exports to Australia reached USD 8.96 million' totalling '2,781.58 metric tonnes, led by psyllium husk, coconut milk and rice' in FY2024-25 — about 0.1 per cent of India's merchandise exports to Australia. Note WINE is inside the scope of the organic MRA as well as being the headline tariff-staging line.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 'India and Australia sign Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) for Organic Products', 24 September 2025

Logistics

The registry’s finding for this corridor is an absence: no seaport pair, shipping service, air-freight route or logistics corridor is designated by either government. What is recorded instead is a maritime-security instrument that is not trade logistics, a unilateral Indian port designation reported by an Australian document, and the treaty’s own transhipment tolerance.

• NO DESIGNATED CORRIDOR PORTS, SHIPPING SERVICE OR AIR-FREIGHT ARRANGEMENT[26]

  No official source located in this pass — across dfat.gov.au, pib.gov.in, austrade.gov.au, pm.gov.au, trademinister.gov.au and the ECTA treaty text — designates any seaport pair, shipping service, air-freight route, inland container depot or logistics corridor for India-Australia trade. The Third Australia-India Annual Summit Joint Statement of 9 July 2026, the fullest bilateral text located, names no ports and announces no commercial maritime or aviation initiative.

  THIS IS A FINDING, NOT AN ABSENCE OF SEARCHING. It matches the India-UK corridor in this pipeline, where no gateway pair is designated either. Nothing in this file should be read as identifying corridor ports or routes.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau and Prime Minister of Australia — Third Australia-India Annual Summit Joint Statement, 9 July 2026

• Maritime cooperation — security, not trade logistics[26]

  The Third Annual Summit records a 'Memorandum of Understanding between the Maritime Border Command and the Indian Coast Guard'. The leaders separately stated that 'transparent, secure and resilient supply chains are central to our economic security'.

  THIS IS A LAW-ENFORCEMENT AND MARITIME-SECURITY INSTRUMENT BETWEEN A BORDER COMMAND AND A COAST GUARD. It is not a trade-logistics, port-access or shipping measure and must not be presented as one. The supply-chain language is a statement of principle carrying no named project, route or facility.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau — Third India-Australia Annual Summit Joint Statement, 9 July 2026

• Indian green-fuel port designations — named by Australia, not bilateral[17]

  'India has designated major ports in Gujarat, Odisha and Tamil Nadu as transport hubs for renewable hydrogen, green ammonia and green methanol.'

  THE ONLY PORT-LEVEL DETAIL LOCATED IN ANY OFFICIAL SOURCE FOR THIS CORRIDOR, and it is a UNILATERAL INDIAN DOMESTIC DESIGNATION reported by an Australian document, not a bilateral arrangement. The individual ports are not named, only the three states, and the designation concerns future green-fuel trade, not present ECTA flows. It confers no ECTA status on those ports.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — 'A New Roadmap for Australia's Economic Engagement with India'

• Customs clearance as the operative facilitation channel[30]

  The AEO Mutual Recognition Arrangement between CBIC and the Australian Border Force is the only officially recorded mechanism directed at goods clearance in this corridor. ECTA Article 4.14 direct-consignment rules govern how goods retain origin when transiting third countries.

  With no designated route and no direct-service commitment, the corridor's officially documented logistics surface reduces to customs treatment plus the transhipment tolerance in Article 4.14(1)(b). Because most India-Australia cargo transits third-country hubs, that transhipment provision is the practically load-bearing logistics rule in the agreement.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau — Cabinet approval of the India-Australia AEO MRA, 16 August 2023

Developments 2022–26

• 2 April 2022

  India and Australia sign the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement[2]

  Signed as the 'IndAus ECTA'. Recorded here as the baseline for the four-year sequence of Indian anniversary releases, each of which is dated 2 April.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau, corroborated by the DFAT CECA page ('ECTA was signed on 2 April 2022')

• 29 December 2022

  ECTA ENTERS INTO FORCE[2]

  Tariff reductions began the same day; Austrade records that 'Further reductions started 1 January 2023'. India described the outcome as zero customs duty on 100% of Australian tariff lines for Indian goods and preferential access on over 70% of Indian tariff lines for Australian goods. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the agreement would 'eliminate Double taxation on IT services', saving 'millions and millions of dollars right now, and over a billion dollars going forward', and added: 'I appreciate Australian government for being very sensitive and considerate ... protecting the interests of the farmers and dairy sector of India.' Australia's Minister for Trade and Tourism marked the day with the statement that 'ECTA will expand trade in goods and services and deliver better economic outcomes for businesses on both sides' and 'We will build on this success with an ambitious Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement'.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 29 December 2022, and Australian Minister for Trade and Tourism media release of the same date

• 16 August 2023

  India's Cabinet approves the Authorised Economic Operator mutual recognition arrangement with Australia[30]

  Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved signing and ratification of the AEO MRA between CBIC and the Department of Home Affairs incorporating the Australian Border Force, to give 'reciprocal benefits to accredited and trusted exporters ... in the clearance of goods by the Customs authorities of the importing country'.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau

• 4 May 2024

  First ECTA Joint Committee Meeting establishes monthly preferential-data exchange[28]

  Held at chief-negotiator level, Indian delegation led by Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal, Australian delegation led by DFAT Deputy Secretary George Mina. The meeting 'established an institutional mechanism, first of its kind for FTAs, for regular exchange of preferential import data on monthly basis'. Market-access concerns raised covered 'okra, pomegranate, grapes, cottage cheese, macadamia nuts, lentils and avocado', TRQ administration and pharmaceutical pricing. CECA discussions were noted as having completed 'nine rounds'. Merchandise trade was described as 'reaching around 24 billion USD in 2023-24'.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau

• 29 December 2024

  ECTA two-year release publishes the only utilisation rates in the corridor[24]

  'The data reveals export utilization at 79% and import utilization at 84%.' Merchandise trade 'surging from USD 12.2 billion in 2020-21 to USD 26 billion in 2022-23', then moderating 'to USD 24 billion in 2023-24, with India's exports to Australia growing by 14%'. April-November 2024 trade reached USD 16.3 billion. The parties committed 'to achieve the target of trade to reach AUD 100 billion by 2030'.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau

• 2 April 2025

  ECTA third anniversary of signing — India reports new export lines[25]

  India's exports grew 4.4% during April 2024 - February 2025 against the same period a year earlier. New export lines named: Calcined Petroleum Coke, High-Capacity Diesel Generating Sets, Air Liquefaction Machinery. Benefits reported in textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and agriculture, with electronics and engineering named as future potential.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau

• 13 August 2025

  Australia's Ministerial Council on Trade and Investment records CECA as 'discussions towards concluding'[21]

  Fifth meeting of the Ministerial Council on Trade and Investment, Parliament House, Darwin, Northern Territory, chaired by Senator Don Farrell. The communique refers to 'discussions towards concluding a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with India' and states no timing.

  Source organisation: Australian Government, Minister for Trade and Tourism

• 23 August 2025

  11th Round of CECA negotiations concludes in New Delhi — the last formal round on record[5]

  Held 18-23 August 2025 in New Delhi, covering 'Goods, Services and Mobility, Digital Trade, Rules of Origin, Legal and Institutional Provisions, Environment, Labour, and Gender'. The parties 'will continue the negotiations in virtual intersessions'. No 12th round date or venue was announced, and none has been recorded since.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau

• 24 September 2025

  India and Australia sign the Mutual Recognition Arrangement on organic products[29]

  Signed at Vanijya Bhavan, New Delhi between APEDA and Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Covers unprocessed plant products, processed plant-origin foods and wine. India's organic exports to Australia were 'USD 8.96 million' and '2,781.58 metric tonnes' in FY2024-25, 'led by psyllium husk, coconut milk and rice'.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau

• 14 October 2025

  Australia's MATES visa page updated — 3,000 places a year for Indian nationals by ballot[23]

  Subclass 403 MATES stream provides 'up to 3,000 Subclass 403 MATES stream visas each year' for Indian nationals, stay of 'up to 2 years', selection by pre-application ballot. Date recorded is the page's stated last-updated date, not an event date.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Home Affairs

• 1 January 2026

  ECTA's final staging step — Australia to 100 per cent tariff-free, India to 90 per cent of Australian exports by value[1]

  DFAT: '96 per cent of imports from India are now tariff free, rising to 100 per cent by 1 January 2026', and 'Over 85 per cent of Australian goods exports by value to India are now tariff free, rising to 90 per cent by 1 January 2026'. PIB: 'From 1 January 2026, all Indian exports are eligible for zero-duty market access.'

  BOTH SOURCE STATEMENTS ARE FORWARD-LOOKING AS PUBLISHED. No official source located confirms after the event that the 1 January 2026 step took effect as scheduled. The Indian four-year release of 2 April 2026 speaks of eligibility from that date, which is the closest thing to post-hoc confirmation located, but it is not an explicit confirmation of implementation. See Not yet verified.

  Source organisation: Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA agreement page, and Government of India, Press Information Bureau — four-year release of 2 April 2026

• 27 February 2026

  India's Ministry of Commerce restates the Australia relationship in its trade-partnerships review[3]

  ECTA 'signed in April 2022, marked India's first trade agreement with a developed economy'. 'From January 2026, Indian exports enjoy zero-duty access across 100% Australian tariff lines.' India's exports to Australia 'grew by 8% in FY 2024-25'. Gems and jewellery exports rose '16% during April-November 2025'. 'Australia has offered commitments across around 135 sub-sectors.' CECA described only as 'negotiations progress towards a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement'.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau

• 2 April 2026

  ECTA completes four years — India publishes the current headline trade figures[6]

  'During 2024-25, total bilateral trade stood at USD 24.1 billion, while India's exports to Australia recorded an 8% growth over the previous year.' India's exports 'more than doubled, rising from USD 4 billion in FY 2020-21 to USD 8.5 billion in FY 2024-25'. 'In FY 2025-26 (up to February), India's total trade with Australia stood at USD 19.3 billion.' Coverage restated: India 70.3% of tariff lines / 90.6% of trade value; Australia 100% of lines, with 98.3% duty-free immediately and 1.7% (113 lines) phased over five years.

  THIS IS THE MOST RECENT INDIAN TRADE-DATA RELEASE LOCATED FOR THIS CORRIDOR, and the source of the Indian series headline in this file.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau

• 9 July 2026

  THIRD AUSTRALIA-INDIA ANNUAL SUMMIT — LATEST OFFICIAL CECA STATEMENT[26]

  Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese met in Melbourne, 8-10 July 2026. They 're-affirmed their commitment to progressing an ambitious, balanced and mutually beneficial Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)' and 'welcomed continued growth in two way trade under the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), and reducing non-tariff barriers'. They 'reaffirmed their commitment to cooperation in critical minerals' with emphasis on 'long-term supply and offtake arrangements' and stated that 'transparent, secure and resilient supply chains are central to our economic security'. Education: the summit 'welcomed the issuance of the Letter of Intent (LoI) by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India to Flinders University to establish its campus in Bengaluru, and the Letter of Approval (LoA) to Victoria University to operationalise its campus in Gurugram'. A National Centre of Excellence for Skilling in Mining was established in Bhubaneswar, and $10 million committed for the Centre for Australia-India Relations' Maitri grants. An MoU was recorded between the Maritime Border Command and the Indian Coast Guard.

  THE LATEST OFFICIAL BILATERAL STATEMENT LOCATED, five weeks before the accessed date. It sets no CECA deadline, announces no negotiating round, and states no trade value.

  Source organisation: Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 'Third India-Australia Annual Summit Joint Statement', 9 July 2026; Australian text at https://www.pm.gov.au/media/australia-india-joint-statement

Not yet verified

The third item is this corridor’s largest provenance defect and the reason the two valued baskets above carry a conflict note. The last item states the condition under which every fact in this file was obtained. Where an item quotes a figure, the marker points to the source this page does carry on that subject — not to a source for the unverified figure itself, which by definition has none.

The registry records what could not be sourced as well as what could. These are open items, listed exactly as the registry states them — not gaps we have filled from memory or inference.

• NO OFFICIAL SOURCE STATES A CECA CONCLUSION DATE, TARGET DATE OR DEADLINE. As at 18 August 2026 the latest official statement is the Third Australia-India Annual Summit Joint Statement of 9 July 2026, in which the leaders merely 're-affirmed their commitment to progressing' the agreement. DFAT's CECA negotiations page says only 'Negotiations are ongoing'; the DFAT ECTA page says 'Negotiations have now resumed'. Neither DFAT page carries a visible last-updated date and neither lists negotiating rounds, so it is not possible to establish from official sources when either sentence was written. Any claim that CECA is close to conclusion, or has a target year, is unsupported by anything fetched in this pass.
• NO OFFICIAL RECORD OF A 12TH CECA NEGOTIATING ROUND WAS LOCATED. The 11th Round concluded in New Delhi on 23 August 2025 — almost a year before the accessed date — and the PIB release states only that the parties 'will continue the negotiations in virtual intersessions', naming no date or venue for a further round. Searches restricted to pib.gov.in, commerce.gov.in, dfat.gov.au and trademinister.gov.au returned no 12th-round announcement. Whether rounds 12 and beyond have occurred, or whether the process has been running on virtual intersessions only for twelve months, cannot be determined from official sources. This is the single largest unknown about the corridor's forward trajectory.
• THE DFAT COUNTRY ECONOMIC FACT SHEET (inia-cef.pdf) IS A TWO-COLUMN PDF WHOSE EXPORT AND IMPORT HEADINGS WERE RETURNED TRANSPOSED BY AUTOMATED EXTRACTION ON REPEATED FETCHES IN THIS PASS. On one fetch the A$34.2 billion column (coal 16.1, education-related travel 8.9, gold 2.8) was reported under 'Imports' and the A$15.9 billion column (recreational travel 2.9, refined petroleum 2.8, telecom & ICT services 1.4) under 'Exports'; on another the labels were reversed. The direction recorded in this file — A$34.2 billion as AUSTRALIAN EXPORTS to India and A$15.9 billion as AUSTRALIAN IMPORTS from India — rests on three independent official corroborations rather than on the PDF's own extracted headings: (a) the DFAT India country brief reports Australian 'total exports (excluding price volatile coal)', which requires coal to be an Australian export; (b) the same brief states 'Education is Australia's largest service export to India, valued at $9 billion in 2024', which requires education-related travel to be an Australian export; (c) the fact sheet's own ranking fields record India as 'Destination Ranking: 5' and 'Source Ranking: 12', which requires the larger column to be exports. The 2024 country-brief pair ($35.5 billion exports / $17.5 billion imports) is also consistent in both magnitude and direction with the 2023-24 pair. The commodity baskets are recorded on that basis and the conflict is recorded here rather than resolved silently. A human should re-read the PDF visually before the baskets are relied on for anything load-bearing.[11][10]
• NO OFFICIAL INDIAN SOURCE STATES INDIA'S IMPORTS FROM AUSTRALIA AS A FIGURE IN ITS OWN RIGHT, FOR ANY YEAR. Every PIB release located gives total bilateral trade and India's exports, never India's imports. The FY2024-25 value of USD 15.6 billion recorded in this file is explicitly DERIVED as the residual of two figures published in the same PIB release of 2 April 2026 (total USD 24.1 billion less exports USD 8.5 billion), and is flagged as derived in the field name and note. The implied Indian merchandise deficit of roughly USD 7 billion is deliberately NOT recorded as a value anywhere in this file, because computing it would compound one derivation on another.[6]
• THE TWO GOVERNMENTS' HEADLINE TOTALS CANNOT BE RECONCILED AND MUST NEVER BE BLENDED. The Australian series gives $35.5 billion exports and $17.5 billion imports for calendar 2024, and a stated two-way total of $49.1 billion for calendar 2023, all goods and services in Australian dollars. The Indian series gives USD 24.1 billion for FY2024-25, merchandise only, in US dollars on an April-March year. The gap is roughly two-to-one. No official source located reconciles them, converts between them, or acknowledges the discrepancy. The largest single identified driver is education-related travel — an Australian services export of around A$8.9 to 9 billion that is entirely absent from the Indian merchandise series — but no official source quantifies the full bridge, and the residual after education is still large.[10][4][6]
• THE OFFICIALLY STATED AUSTRALIAN TWO-WAY TOTAL IS A YEAR OLDER THAN ITS COMPONENTS. The only DIRECTLY STATED Australian two-way goods-and-services figure located is '$49.1 billion in 2023', on the DFAT CECA page. The component figures ($35.5 billion and $17.5 billion) are for calendar 2024 and appear on a different DFAT page which prints no two-way total. The 2024 two-way figure of $53.0 billion in this file is therefore DERIVED and flagged as such. No official 2025 Australian figure for this corridor was located at all, meaning the freshest official Australian data is roughly eighteen months old at the accessed date.[4][10]
• CURRENCY IS NOT PRINTED ON THE DFAT PAGES CARRYING THE HEADLINE AUSTRALIAN FIGURES. The India country brief prints a bare '$' for exports ($35.5 billion), imports ($17.5 billion), education services ($9 billion), duty savings ($310 million) and both investment stocks; the CECA page does the same for the $49.1 billion two-way total. These are read as Australian dollars because the publisher is an Australian government department and the fact sheet's parallel figures are explicitly denominated 'A$b', but no fetched page states the currency next to those numbers. Note also that the AUD 100 billion by 2030 target is stated in AUSTRALIAN dollars by an INDIAN release whose every other figure is in US dollars.[10][4][24]
• THE DFAT WINE PAGE PRINTS TWO DIFFERENT COMMENCEMENT DATES FOR THE TWO PRICE BANDS. The above-US$5 band is described as '150% tariff cut to 100% on 22 December 2022 and phased to 50% over 9 years' while the above-US$15 band is described as '150% tariff cut to 75% on 29 December 2022 and phased to 25% over 9 years'. ECTA entered into force on 29 December 2022 on four other official pages, so 22 December 2022 cannot be an entry-into-force step. It is recorded verbatim and NOT corrected. No official source located explains or acknowledges the discrepancy, and Annex 2A was not read line by line in this pass to check the scheduled date.[12]
• ECTA ANNEX 2A (TARIFF SCHEDULES) AND ANNEX 4B (PRODUCT SPECIFIC RULES OF ORIGIN) WERE NOT READ LINE BY LINE IN THIS PASS. Chapter 2 as fetched contains no wine provisions, no minimum-import-price or indexation text and no staging categories — all of that sits in Annex 2A, so every tariff-staging figure in this file comes from DFAT's summary outcome pages rather than from the schedule itself. Chapter 4 records that product-specific rules sit in Annex 4B and notes it was 'under negotiation at agreement entry'; whether Annex 4B has since been completed, and what its product-specific thresholds are, could not be established. Out-of-quota tariff treatment for the almond (34,000 tonne) and lentil (150,000 tonne) quotas is not stated on any page fetched.
• NO INDIAN CERTIFICATE-OF-ORIGIN ISSUING BODY IS NAMED IN ANY SOURCE LOCATED. DFAT's guide names the three Australian issuing bodies (ACCI, Ai Group, Ozdocs) but for India directs users only to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. No DGFT public notice, CBIC circular or commerce.gov.in page designating Indian ECTA issuing agencies was located. The Indian-side origin administration is therefore described in this file only at the level of the treaty text and the supervising authority. Separately, commerce.gov.in could not be fetched at all in this pass — the India-Australia ECTA agreement page returned a server error — so India's own consolidated ECTA documentation is entirely absent from this file.
• THE ONLY UTILISATION FIGURES IN THIS CORRIDOR ARE ROUGHLY THREE YEARS OLD AND UNDEFINED. Export utilisation of 79% and import utilisation of 84% were published by PIB on 29 December 2024 and relate to calendar 2023 data. The release does not define whether 'utilization' means share of eligible trade VALUE claiming preference, share of eligible LINES, or share of SHIPMENTS, and does not state which side's customs data underlies which figure. Despite the Joint Committee having 'established an institutional mechanism, first of its kind for FTAs, for regular exchange of preferential import data on monthly basis' in May 2024, no output of that mechanism has been published by either government since. No Australian utilisation figure was located at all.[24][28]
• NO OFFICIAL SOURCE CONFIRMS AFTER THE EVENT THAT THE 1 JANUARY 2026 FINAL STAGING STEP TOOK EFFECT AS SCHEDULED. Both governments' statements about that date are forward-looking as published: DFAT says tariff-free coverage is 'rising to 100 per cent by 1 January 2026' and 'rising to 90 per cent by 1 January 2026', and PIB says 'From 1 January 2026, all Indian exports are eligible for zero-duty market access'. The PIB four-year release of 2 April 2026 restates the eligibility but does not explicitly confirm implementation. No Australian Border Force or CBIC notice recording the actual tariff change was located. Similarly, no source confirms completion of the 4-year bituminous coal and pharmaceutical staging, which on a 29 December 2022 start would complete around 29 December 2026 — after this file's accessed date.[1][6]
• COAL IS ABSENT FROM EVERY INDIAN LIST OF KEY IMPORTS FROM AUSTRALIA. PIB names base metals, raw cotton, chemicals, fertilisers, pulses, metalliferous ores, wood and wood products — but never coal, despite coal being A$16.1 billion and roughly 47 per cent of the Australian export basket on the Australian series. Conversely, DFAT publishes its headline ECTA export growth statistic explicitly 'excluding price volatile coal'. Both governments thus present the corridor with its largest single commodity removed from view, by different means. No official source located explains either omission. This is recorded as a difference in publication practice, not as a factual contradiction — neither government states the other is wrong.[6][11]
• NO SEAPORT PAIR, SHIPPING SERVICE, AIR-FREIGHT ROUTE OR LOGISTICS CORRIDOR IS OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED BY EITHER GOVERNMENT. Nothing was located across dfat.gov.au, pib.gov.in, austrade.gov.au, pm.gov.au, trademinister.gov.au or the treaty text. The Third Annual Summit Joint Statement of 9 July 2026 names no ports and announces no commercial maritime or aviation initiative; its only maritime content is a Maritime Border Command / Indian Coast Guard MoU, which is a security instrument, not trade logistics. The sole port-level detail located anywhere is a DFAT roadmap sentence reporting that 'India has designated major ports in Gujarat, Odisha and Tamil Nadu as transport hubs for renewable hydrogen, green ammonia and green methanol' — a unilateral Indian domestic designation concerning future green fuels, naming states rather than ports, with no ECTA status. No air services agreement, freight capacity or shipping frequency for this corridor was located in any official source.
• THE INDIA-AUSTRALIA AEO MUTUAL RECOGNITION ARRANGEMENT IS RECORDED ONLY AT CABINET-APPROVAL STAGE. The PIB release of 16 August 2023 records approval of 'the signing and ratification' of the arrangement. No official source located in this pass records the AEO MRA actually being signed, entering into force, or producing operational benefits, and the release states no specific facilitation outcomes such as reduced inspection rates or clearance times. Since this is the only goods-clearance mechanism in the corridor, its operative status is materially unresolved.
• DFAT'S 'AUSTRALIA'S TRADE IN SERVICES WITH INDIA' PUBLICATION IS NINE YEARS OUT OF DATE AND IS USED IN THIS FILE ONLY AS A DIRECTIONAL CROSS-CHECK. It carries 2016 data (two-way services $5.2 billion; exports $3.5 billion; imports $1.7 billion; education-related travel $2.6 billion) from ABS catalogue 5368.0.55.004, published August 2017. None of its values are recorded in any value object in this file. It is cited solely because it places education-related travel unambiguously on the Australian export side, which corroborates the fact-sheet direction assignment. No current standalone Australian services-split publication for India was located, so the corridor's services composition on the Australian series rests entirely on the fact sheet's mixed goods-and-services basket.[10][11]
• THE DFAT ROADMAP CARRIES NO PUBLICATION DATE ON ITS FACE. 'A New Roadmap for Australia's Economic Engagement with India' references events through November 2024 but prints no publication date in the material fetched. Its projection that 'By the end of 2025 Australian exporters to India will have saved around $2 billion in tariffs due to ECTA' is therefore a forward-looking estimate of unknown vintage, and no official source located confirms whether the $2 billion was reached. It must not be presented as an outturn, and must not be conflated with the separate and much smaller $310 million that Australian importers saved on goods from India.[17]
• NO OFFICIAL SOURCE DEFINES WHAT THE AUD 100 BILLION BY 2030 TARGET MEASURES. The target appears in a PIB release of 29 December 2024 and is stated in Australian dollars within an otherwise US-dollar document. No source located states whether it covers goods only or goods and services, which of the two irreconcilable series would be used to measure it, or whether it is a joint commitment with any monitoring mechanism. No Australian source located repeats the target at all. Against the stated Australian 2023 two-way total of $49.1 billion it implies roughly a doubling in seven years; against the Indian FY2024-25 merchandise total of USD 24.1 billion it implies far more. Which comparison is intended is unknown.[24][4][6]
• NO SECOND ECTA JOINT COMMITTEE MEETING IS ON RECORD. Article 12.2 requires the Joint Committee to meet 'within 1 year of entry into force' and 'every 2 years' thereafter. The first meeting was held on 4 May 2024. On the two-year cycle a second meeting would fall due around May 2026, three months before this file's accessed date, but no official source located records a second Joint Committee Meeting having taken place, nor any subcommittee meeting under Article 2.12. The market-access issues raised at the first meeting — okra, pomegranate, grapes, cottage cheese, macadamia nuts, lentils, avocado, TRQ administration and pharmaceutical pricing — have no recorded resolution.
• MATES OUTCOMES ARE UNMEASURED AND THE TWO OFFICIAL PAGES DISAGREE ON OPERATIONAL STATUS. The Home Affairs fact sheet says 'MATES will be open for applications from late 2024' and describes no ballot; the subclass 403 visa page, last updated 14 October 2025, describes an operating pre-application ballot. The fact sheet also states 'More information about the visa subclass and associated application fees will be available soon', so no fee is recorded in this file. No official count of MATES visas granted, ballot registrations received, or places filled against the 3,000 annual cap was located. Neither page states any reciprocal arrangement for Australian nationals in India, and none was located; MATES appears to be one-directional but no official source says so explicitly.
• THE FIFTH MINISTERIAL COUNCIL ON TRADE AND INVESTMENT COMMUNIQUE WAS ONLY PARTIALLY LEGIBLE IN THIS PASS. The automated extraction of the 13 August 2025 communique returned confused output, at one point asserting that ECTA is not mentioned and conflating it with the Australia-European Union free trade agreement. Only the single CECA phrase — 'discussions towards concluding a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with India' — is recorded from it, and even that should be re-verified against the page directly. Nothing else from that communique is relied on in this file.
• DIRECT FETCHING WAS UNAVAILABLE THROUGHOUT THIS PASS AND ALL CONTENT WAS OBTAINED THROUGH A SUMMARISING FETCH LAYER. Direct HTTPS requests to dfat.gov.au, pib.gov.in and austrade.gov.au were refused by the session's egress proxy with a 403 CONNECT failure, so no raw HTML or PDF bytes could be inspected. Every fact in this file therefore passed through an automated extraction step that is known, from the fact-sheet column transposition and the Ministerial Council communique confusion recorded above, to be capable of scrambling two-column layouts and of confusing similarly-named agreements. Verbatim quotation was requested at every step and cross-checks were used wherever a second official source existed, but the file should be read as summariser-mediated rather than as directly transcribed from source documents. Additionally, three official pages could not be fetched at all: the DFAT ECTA official-text index, the ECTA outcomes index and the ECTA snapshot-of-benefits page all returned robots.txt failures, and the commerce.gov.in India-Australia ECTA page returned a server error.

Sources

Numbered to match the markers in the text above. Every figure on this page traces to one of these; nothing is estimated, averaged or carried over from outside the registry.

1. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA agreement page dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
2. Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 'India Australia Economic and Cooperation Trade Agreement comes into force', 29 December 2022 pib.gov.in accessed 18 August 2026
3. Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 'India's Trade Partnerships Powering Global Integration and Growth', 27 February 2026 pib.gov.in accessed 18 August 2026
4. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — CECA negotiations page dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
5. Government of India, Press Information Bureau — '11th Round of India-Australia CECA Negotiations Concludes in New Delhi', 23 August 2025 pib.gov.in accessed 18 August 2026
6. Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 'India-Australia ECTA Completes Four Years, Strengthening Bilateral Economic Partnership', 2 April 2026 pib.gov.in accessed 18 August 2026
7. Austrade — Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AI-ECTA) austrade.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
8. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA benefits for Australia (overview) dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
9. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA official text, Chapter 12 Administrative and Institutional Provisions dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
10. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — India country brief dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
11. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — Country Economic and Trade Data fact sheet, India (inia-cef.pdf) dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
12. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA benefits for Australian goods exporters dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
13. dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
14. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA official text, Chapter 4 Rules of Origin dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
15. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — ECTA official text, Chapter 2 Trade in Goods dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
16. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — 'Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement: Guide to using ECTA' dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
17. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) — 'A New Roadmap for Australia's Economic Engagement with India' dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
18. dfat.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
19. Prime Minister of Australia — Third Australia-India Annual Summit Joint Statement pm.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
20. trademinister.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
21. Australian Government, Minister for Trade and Tourism (Senator the Hon Don Farrell) — 'Communique - Fifth meeting of the Ministerial Council on Trade and Investment', 13 August 2025, Parliament House, Darwin, Northern Territory trademinister.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
22. homeaffairs.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
23. Australian Government Department of Home Affairs — MATES visa (subclass 403) page, last updated 14 October 2025, and the Home Affairs MATES fact sheet immi.homeaffairs.gov.au accessed 18 August 2026
24. Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 'India-Australia ECTA marks two years of success', 29 December 2024, and the four-year release of 2 April 2026 pib.gov.in accessed 18 August 2026
25. Government of India, Press Information Bureau — ECTA celebrates 3rd anniversary of signing, 2 April 2025, and the two-year release of 29 December 2024 pib.gov.in accessed 18 August 2026
26. Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 'Third India-Australia Annual Summit Joint Statement', 9 July 2026 pib.gov.in accessed 18 August 2026
27. Government of India, Press Information Bureau — '10th Round of India-Australia CECA Negotiations held on five tracks in Sydney' pib.gov.in accessed 18 August 2026
28. Government of India, Press Information Bureau — First Joint Committee Meeting under Ind-Aus ECTA, 4 May 2024 pib.gov.in accessed 18 August 2026
29. Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 'India and Australia sign Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) for Organic Products', 24 September 2025 pib.gov.in accessed 18 August 2026
30. Government of India, Press Information Bureau — 'Cabinet approves Mutual Recognition Arrangement of Authorised Economic Operators between India and Australia', 16 August 2023 pib.gov.in accessed 18 August 2026

Data verified 18 August 2026 · rendered from the corridor registry.