The prime ministers of Australia and India have revived talks on a free trade deal.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull discussed the deal with Indian PM Narendra Modi in this week, marking the first progress since former prime minister Tony Abbott attempt at setting up Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) while he was in power.

At the time, Mr Abbott vowed to have a deal in place by the end of 2015, but that deadline has passed and there has been very little action since a visit from India’s Finance Minister in early 2016.

Mr Modi says both sides will sit at the negotiating table for more talks “soon”, while Mr Turnbull claims both countries are as committed to the agreement as ever.

“I think it's fair to say progress has not been as fast as either of us would like to be,” Mr Turnbull said.

Negotiators on both sides are being asked to find a way forward by listing and sharing their priorities.

“There's no point setting a target for an agreement without having regard to the quality of the agreement,” Mr Turnbull said.

“You can sign an agreement at any time — it's a question of whether it's got the provisions that make it valuable, worthwhile, from Australia's point of view.

“So it will take time, but the important thing is to persevere.”

One of the major sticking points has been India’s resistance to open up its agricultural market to Australian products, with India worried it could endanger the livelihoods of millions of small-scale farmers in India.

“India has a long tradition of protection, particularly for agriculture. From our point of view we're a huge agricultural exporter so we want open markets,” Mr Turnbull said.

Meanwhile, Australia is hung up on India’s desire for reduced immigration restrictions, including on 457 visas.

Mr Turnbull appears unwilling to compromise on the matter.

“We see our temporary migration program as being conducted in a very focussed way in Australia's national interest,” he said.

“Our commitment is to assure that when jobs can be done by Australians they should be done by Australians.”

Mr Turnbull said the CECA deal was “on the agenda”, but warned that Australia has to be “realistic” about timing.

“It's important to make sure that you have an agreement that meets your requirements, not just reaching an agreement for the sake of saying you've reached an agreement,” he said.

He said there were good signs that India could be shedding its protectionist mentality, but that time might be better spent on other trade deals.

“The big agenda in terms of trade in the region now is R-CEP (the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) and that's I think the priority that the ASEAN countries and India and China and Australia are giving to that,” Mr Turnbull said.