New opportunities in India
The final quarter of 2024 marked significant developments in Victoria-India relations. Global Victoria played a key role in supporting the Premier of Victoria’s first international visit. The visit coincided with the launch of the refreshed Victoria’s India Strategy; Our Shared Future 2025-2030, as well as the first higher education mission to India.
The new presence of internationally branded trade fairs in India is recognition of a more outward focused and maturing market. Global Victoria supported Victorian edtech companies to DIDAC International Education Fair (18 – 20 September 2024), wine exporters to ProWine (8 – 9 November 2024) and beauty and wellness exporters to Cosmoprof (5 – 7 December 2024).
Premier’s official travel to India
The Premier’s visit profiled opportunities across education, trade, investment, tourism, sport and creative industries and coincided with the launch of the India Strategy. Key highlights of the Premier’s program included the inauguration of Victoria stand at DIDAC Education Fair, launching the University of Melbourne’s Global Centre in India, delivering the Australia India Institute’s annual oration and unveiling a new product range for Natio in the beauty wellness and personal care sector. The Premier also witnessed the signing of an agreement between La Trobe University and India’s Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) to develop an innovation corridor, and attended the Indian premiere of My Melbourne, a collaborative film project between Victoria and India. My Melbourne has since been shown at film festivals in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai and will launch in Indian cinemas next year.
During the visit, the Premier also announced that Firstsource will establish its new headquarters in Melbourne creating up to 420 jobs in Victoria. Firstsource is a global business process services company from India that provides digital transformation solutions to a broad range of industries.
Additionally, Sonata Software, a global tech company, will establish its Centre of Excellence in Melbourne focused on the retail and manufacturing industries. It will create around 100 new Victorian jobs over the next three years, including data engineers, solution architects and technical analysts.
International education
One of the major announcements during the visit was the launch of a new $5 million 'Yes to International Students Fund'.
This fund will support Victorian universities and TAFEs to expand their transnational education offering and deliver Australian courses to international students outside Australia.
Additionally, the Premier also announced that 500 subclass 491 nomination places will be reserved in FY2024-25 for international students who have graduated from Victorian educational institutions. In October 2024, Study Melbourne hosted a delegation of 16 school leaders, led by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). 
The weeklong program included engagements with key Victorian organisations (e.g. Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership, Knox Innovation Opportunity and Sustainability Centre) and universities with strong global reputations.
The program showcased best practices in early childhood development, as well as innovations in teaching and learning across both school and tertiary education. The initiative highlighted the potential for deeper collaboration in areas including enhanced teacher training, student exchanges and curriculum development.
Victoria at ProWine Mumbai
The VGTI office in India supported four Victorian companies to exhibit at ProWine Mumbai 2024 (8 – 9 November 2024), India’s leading event for the wine and spirits industry.
India’s alcoholic beverages market, valued at US$54 billion in 2024, is the third largest globally, and the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, which entered into force in 2022, has made it easier for Australian wine exporters to access this growing market.
Victoria at Cosmoprof India
Global Victoria exhibited at Cosmoprof India (5 – 7 December 2024) for the second year in a row. Seven Victorian brands in fragrance, skincare, baby skincare and wellness products exhibited, demonstrating Victoria’s strong capabilities in a wide range of categories in the Beauty, Wellness and Personal Care (BWPC) sector.
Australia India trade agreement (AI ECTA) gives our haircare and skincare brands duty free access to the Indian market as duties for most products have dropped to zero. The Australia India Economic and Trade Agreement (AI ECTA) grants duty free access for our haircare and skincare products into India.
The delegation consisted of first time and repeat delegates, with six of the seven Victorian brands led by women founders or leaders. The Victorian pavilion attracted strong interest from leading beauty platforms and distributors at the vastly expanded trade show this year. In addition to exhibiting at Cosmoprof, Global Victoria also set up a business matching and meeting program across Bengaluru and Mumbai and visited several flagship beauty retail stores.
Victoria-India sports collaboration
Sport is taking centre stage in Victoria-India relations. On 10 November, the Premier announced that Melbourne would host Australia’s first Pro Kabaddi League exhibition match on 28 December, following the Boxing Day Cricket Test. Kabaddi, the second most popular sport in India after cricket, will be a significant addition to Victoria’s sporting calendar in 2024/25.
Global Victoria recently supported the Indian Consulate to deliver an Australia-India Sports Roundtable, which provided an important opportunity to examine the role of sport in unlocking new strategic outcomes for the state. The roundtable follows the Sports Tech World Series (STWS) conference held in Melbourne (24 October 2024), which hosted two speakers from leading sports start-ups from India. With SportNXT 2025 now confirmed for March 2025 in Melbourne, Global Victoria looks forward to growing Victoria’s sport, sport tech and adjacent industries’ relationship with the large and complimentary Indian market.