In the largest-ever investment by the Australian government in India, Canberra will announce an investment of Rs 1,500 crore in the country in multiple sectors at the India-Australia bilateral summit to be held on Monday. India and Australia will conclude an early harvest agreement by the end of this month, according to sources. An early harvest agreement is aimed at liberalising tariffs on the trade of certain goods between two countries or trading blocs before a comprehensive agreement.

As per a diplomatic source, the two countries will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of critical minerals, which will help increase India's access to metallic coal and lithium in Australia and cater to India's growing demand for electric vehicles and growing infrastructure. Australia has one of the biggest reserves of lithium and is also a provider of the cleanest metallic coal.