India becomes biggest source of migration to Aust'n state for first time: census

Indian people are Victoria's biggest migrant group for the first time in history, Australia's national census has found.

The first results of the census revealed that after 12 years of strong growth India was the biggest source of migration to the state, beating England for the first time.

Harish Budhiraja, who moved to Australia in 2005, said Indians see Victoria as accepting and multicultural.

When Budhiraja moved India was not even a top four source of migrants to Victoria, with England, New Zealand, Italy and Vietnam holding the top four spots.

England remained the most prominent source of migrants for Western Australia (WA), South Australia (SA), Tasmania, the Northern Territory (NT) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) but China was number one for New South Wales (NSW) and New Zealand the most prominent in Queensland.

"People say Australia is struggling in industry but I don't think so; we are doing better than most other economies," Budhiraja told News Limited on Wednesday.

"Indians still see Australia as the land of opportunity when it comes to education, research and the standard of living."

Budhiraja, 42, now has two Victorian-born sons and married his Indian fiancée, Chhavi, in Melbourne.

He said he decided to leave India because it was easy for chartered accountants to get permanent residency in Australia and career prospects were better in Melbourne.

He said he had not experienced any racism in his 12 years in Victoria.

"I kept my social and religious beliefs with me but at the same time I started respecting the culture, like for example watching (local sports)," he said. Endit