On a typical Saturday afternoon in western Sydney’s Harris Park, crowds of people listening to Bollywood music gather outside the restaurants that have transformed this old residential area into the Little India precinct. But on this Saturday in early February, people are queuing around the block to a different beat, as dhol drummers celebrate the arrival of a shiny new facet of Australia’s rising diaspora.

One of India’s biggest jewellery companies, Malabar Gold and Diamonds, has opened a regional office and showroom spurred on by the new bilateral trade agreement, which started in 2023, and the rapid expansion of the local Indian background population. The launch is a kaleidoscope of the community from Muslim women in hijabs to svelte young couples in leisurewear, all pressing up against the rows of display cabinets with distinctively Indian adornments.