Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be focused on India's rapid technological growth and expanding digital economy during his visit this week to shore up ties with the South Asian nation as it strives to become the next economic superpower.
Technology is booming in India on a scale that is spurring development far beyond what is happening in the West, making major changes in the lives of its 1.4 billion people.
Even in the poorest slums of India, most people now own a smartphone.
The most remote villages use video calls to access doctors in what's been described as a healthcare revolution.
And hundreds of millions of people in cluttered markets use an instant, digital payment system developed in India to buy and sell everything from biriyani to bangles.
In the western city of Ahmedabad, where Mr Albanese is due to land later today, shopkeeper Shahbaj Khan said India's digital currency system was transforming his clothing business and the country.
The system, known as the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) allows Indians to scan a QR code to pay people or businesses within seconds, leading to billions of digital transactions and bringing even the poorest citizens into the economy.
"The adoption of digital payments is a very big step for the betterment of our next generation," Mr Khan said.
"It's beneficial for all — small vendors, poor people. A small vendor who never had a bank account is now opening a bank account so that he can use UPI; everything is digital."
Technological development is at the forefront of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitions for his nation's future, allowing India to become a developed country by 2047 and phase out cash.
"I feel good when I use UPI and I haven't faced any problems … we can use it in emergencies when people do not have cash," said Aliya, a young shopper in Ahmedabad.
"I don't use cash and do all transactions online now."
It's this kind of progress, experts say, that has taken India from a country with modest growth to one that rich Western countries are now courting, desperate to increase trade, technology, and defence ties.
Plus, India and countries like Australia have mutual ambitions to detach themselves from China as tensions remain high in the Indo-Pacific.
Australia's relationship with India has 'rocketed ahead' during the past decade
This fortnight, Australia is sending its heaviest hitters to the South Asian nation in a symbol of the Albanese government's keenness to cement further ties with India.
Mr Albanese is due to touch down later today with Trade Minister Don Farrell and Resources Minister Madeleine King.
It comes after Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Education Minister Jason Clare travelled to New Delhi last week, with Senator Wong attending the G20 and Mr Clare announcing the possibility of Australian university campuses in India.
One senior Australian government figure told the ABC that the relationship had "rocketed ahead" during the past decade, with Australian ministers, top brass and senior officials now enjoying access in New Delhi which would have been "unimaginable" around 2010.
"We have a rich friendship underpinned by shared democratic values, bonds between our people, and an affectionate but fierce sporting rivalry … [we need to] make sure that we continue to develop the relationship," Mr Albanese said on Tuesday.
"India is Australia's sixth-largest trading partner, but there is so much potential for so much more — creating Australian jobs, helping our industries prosper, sparking growth and innovation."
The prime minister said renewable energy would be a focus of his visit, noting India's ambitious goals of reaching 50 per cent renewable energy and 30 per cent electric vehicles by 2030.
Thirty chief executives of Australia's largest companies and university heads will be joining Mr Albanese's delegation.
From Qantas to Fortescue Metals, ANZ and Melbourne University, some of Australia's largest businesses are travelling to India, hoping to get into the market before their competitors capitalise on the opportunities.
Richard Maude, executive director of policy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said India was a "critical" partner for Australia – and the growing relationship was fuelled by converging interests.
"I think it's remarkable in many ways how quickly Australia-India relations have strengthened in recent years. This is something that started under previous governments and will now continue under the Albanese prime ministership," he said.
"From an Australian perspective India is critical to shaping what the Foreign Minister calls a 'strategic equilibrium' in the Indo Pacific."
Mr Maude said that India was also more interested in building ties with Australia, in part because of the "inexorable long-term shift in India's world view, driven by stronger economic connections with the West and of course by the challenge from China".
"There are still constraints and differences in the relationship – India will still cling to a degree of strategic autonomy, it won't do alliances with the West," he said.
"But it does share that one big driving common interest with Australia, which is the development of an Indo-Pacific in which China might be powerful but is not hegemonic."
Albanese and Modi may not find common ground on Ukraine
But Mr Albanese will have to navigate some tricky areas where the two countries diverge when he meets his Indian counterpart.
Despite Australia's condemnation of Russia's role in the Ukraine war, India still has close military and trade links with the Kremlin, and has recently increased its oil imports.
"I think [Mr Albanese] will understand that India is going to come at the war in Ukraine and its own relationship with Russia from a national interest perspective," Mr Maude said.
"Australia might be disappointed by that, but it has to be realistic about it.
"But in a way there is also an opportunity for the West here, because India's reliance on Russian military technology has been exposed as a vulnerability."
Last month, the Indian government banned a BBC documentary critical of Mr Modi and his treatment of the Muslim minority.
Shortly after it aired, Indian tax authorities raided the British broadcaster's offices in Delhi and Mumbai.
Senator Wong said she had "advocated" Australia's support of freedom of the press during her talks with Indian counterpart S Jaishankar last week.
"We have a long history as a country of elevating the importance of human rights," she said.
"We advocate in relation to these matters publicly and privately … I have raised this with Dr Jaishankar, as you would anticipate."
Australian officials might have nagging doubts about outbreaks of sectarianism in India – as well as the Modi government's increasing intolerance of internal criticism – but they remain overwhelmingly bullish about the bilateral relationship and its trajectory.
Last year, the two countries signed an "interim" free trade agreement that has now been ratified by both parliaments.
Australia is offering zero-duty access to India for about 96 per cent of exports, while India has eliminated tariffs on 85 per cent of Australia's exports.
The "early harvest" deal leaves out some politically sensitive sectors in both countries, and Mr Maude said it was too early to say if New Delhi and Canberra would be willing to devote serious political capital to a final deal.
"A comprehensive agreement is going to be hard to secure but it's not out of the question. India is at the table already, negotiating seriously, so there is interest on both sides in seeing what's possible," he said.
"And I think sometimes we underestimate the value of the interim agreement. There's quite a lot in it – more than you'd expect from an interim deal in terms of market access and services."
As ever, negotiations with India are unlikely to move with lightning speed — but the potential rewards are great.
