New Delhi: Australia’s vast reserves of critical minerals are among the many avenues of cooperation between India and Australia, along with tourism, education and agribusiness, according to Australian Deputy Minister Julian Hill.
Australia’s lithium, copper, nickel and cobalt are helping to support India’s manufacturing ambitions, Hill, assistant minister for international education, citizenship, customs and multicultural affairs, said Thursday at the India-Australia Trade Summit 2025 in New Delhi.
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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese launched a new plan for relations with India earlier this year that identifies four sectors, clean energy, agribusiness, education and skills and tourism, he said.
“That (road map) identifies four sectors or superhighways that we think are the most promising. One, clean energy. These are Australia’s critical minerals that help support India’s renewables production ambitions. Australia produces more than half the world’s lithium and we have the world’s second largest reserves of nickel, copper and cobalt,” the deputy minister said.
Expansion plans
India aims to expand manufacturing in strategic sectors such as renewable energy and clean mobility. The two countries united on the critical minerals front in July when they launched the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative as members of the Quad Alliance, pledging to work together to secure and diversify supply chains.
The Quad is an alliance of India, the US, Japan and Australia, and its Critical Minerals Initiative came amid China’s stranglehold on rare-earth magnets, which the world’s second-largest economy stopped exporting in April. This sent manufacturers around the world into a frenzy. These magnets are used in industries such as defense, electronics, renewable energy and automotive, including electric vehicles.
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The Indian government has since given the go-ahead ₹7,280 crore plan to support five rare earth magnet manufacturing facilities in the country to build a resilient domestic supply chain.
Hill also said bilateral trade between India and Australia has doubled over the past five years, benefiting from the 2022 Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA).
Growing exports
He noted that exports from India to Australia increased in sectors such as agriculture (35%), automotive (100%) and apparel (20%) under ECTA. “On the Australian side, we are pleased to see a large increase in ore and mineral exports to India,” Hill said.
Highlighting Australia’s multicultural diversity, Hill said the most common surname among all Australian registered cricketers is “Singh”.
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He also noted that despite growing bilateral trade and improving economic ties, India remains one of Australia’s smaller trading partners compared to China. “…we cannot be complacent because there is much more we can and should do to fulfill our potential. Despite the rapid growth we have seen and which I have outlined, Australia’s current trade with India is still relatively low. It is less than 20% of Australia’s trade with China. So we can do a lot more together using the economic agreements now in place,” he said.
“Australia and India are now negotiating to expand ECTA into a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement, which we believe will unlock more trade and investment,” he said.
