Malcolm Turnbull's first state visit to India is aimed at strengthening ties between Australia and the sub-continental giant.
He's using a meeting with his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to continue the push for a free trade deal.
"As we take the Australia-India relationship to new and higher levels, it's growing all the time, strengthening all the time, cooperation across so many fields."
India is a rapidly growing country, home to 1.3 billion people - a figure which is expected to keep rising.
Its population is also a young one, Mr Turnbull noting that there are now more 10 year-olds in India than there are Australians.
India's also expected to surpass China as the world's most populous nation by the year 2030, and its economy continues to grow.
"Indians used to lament about a low rate of growth. They used to talk about the Hindu growth rate and compare their growth rate unfavourably to that of China. Well, India is showing that it can grow at a rapid rate."
Trade between Australia and India is worth nearly $20 billion each year but the Prime Minister says Australia can do better.
He admits, though, closing a trade deal with the country will take time.
"But the important thing is to persevere and I think that you can see the trade between our two countries is growing all the time. There are more opportunities arising."
The Federal Government is hopeful it can increase its exports, particularly when it comes to energy commodities, higher education, and professional services.
Opportunities for exports of coal are there, if the giant Adani Carmichael mine tipped for Queensland's Galilee basin goes ahead as planned.
The Adani company wants nearly one billion dollars from the Northern Australia Infrastructure fund, but Mr Turnbull says it's not up to him.
"That's an independent process, it has to go through that process, through that independent assessment by the board."
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott set an ambitious 12-month timetable on trade talks when he was in office, however, an agreement was never reached.
Executive Director of the Australia South Asia Research Centre, Raghbendra Jha, says demand for free access to Australia for Indian workers is what's slowing down the talks, along with a desire for greater access to India's heavily protected agriculture industry.
"India is very committed to protecting its farmers, its peasant farmers, which are hundreds of millions in number and removing guarantees that are implicit, and explicit, in the Indian legal system is something which is fraught with political (land)mines, nobody will touch that."
Labor's trade spokesman, Jason Clare, says this state visit is an opportunity to strengthen trade negotiations.
"Frankly the Prime Minister should have been there last year - he promised he would have concluded a free trade agreement with India by the end of 2015. It's now 2017, seems like this agreement has now stalled again. This trip is now an opportunity for Malcolm Turnbull to put the jumper leads on this agreement and get it moving."
Prime Minister Turnbull's visit coincides with that of Education Minister Simon Birmingham and a large contingent of university vice-chancellors.
Labor says while it's important to get Indian students studying in Australia, having local universities open campuses on the sub-continental giant would be welcomed.
Mr Clare says it's also important to dispel the myth that increased trade means fewer local jobs.
He says it's up to the Federal Government to provide better incomes and opportunities for the working class if it wants to avoid the anti-trade sentiment currently seen in the United States.
"More often than not it's automation, it's technological changes. America's lost a lot of manufacturing jobs over the last few decades. Some of it's because of trade but most of it is because of automation. But if you're someone who's just lost your job you don't really care whether it's trade or whether it's a robot that's taken your job - you just want your job back."
