The Foreign Minister Bob Carr has announced the appointment of Australia's next High Commissioner to India.

Patrick Suckling will take up the post in New Delhi in January.

Senator Carr says the role is important because India is Australia's fourth largest export market, with trade between the two countries reaching 18-billion dollars a year.

Mr Suckling is a career diplomat who has previously been posted to New Delhi and Washington.

He has a post-graduate diploma in Hindi from the University of Sydney.