INDIAN diplomats are expected to meet their Australian counterparts for crisis talks in Canberra today following the murder of an Indian migrant in Melbourne.

The murder of 21-year-old accounting graduate Nitin Garg in a Yarraville park on Saturday night was yesterday condemned by politicians in India and Australia.

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, whose home in Melbourne's inner-west is near where the stabbing took place, unreservedly condemned the attack.

"We are an accepting, tolerant, multicultural nation" she said.

Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said it was a "heinous crime on humanity" and "an uncivilised brutal attack on innocent Indians".

Mr Krishna said attacks on Indians in Melbourne were causing "deep anger" and the latest killing, "certainly will have some bearing on the bilateral ties between our two countries".

He said Australian authorities must act quickly to arrest those responsible and stem the violence against Indians, or New Delhi would take action; this could include issuing a cautionary travel advisory for Melbourne or even Australia.

The Indian deputy high commissioner in Canberra, V.K. Sharma, said that high commissioner Sujatha Singh would seek a meeting with senior Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials to "apprise them of our concerns".

He said the meeting between Mrs Singh and DFAT officials would probably take place today, but she would await a report

from the Indian consulate in Melbourne.

On the back of a spate of attacks on Indians living in Melbourne last year, Tourism Australia has already forecast that 4000 fewer Indian students will study in Australia this year, at a cost of about $78 million to the economy.

At Central Queensland University, where Mr Garg recently graduated with a bachelor of accounting, Indian enrolments are down about 20 per cent for the next two terms, according to Melbourne campus director Darryl Stewart.

This is a substantial loss for the university because about 50 per cent its international student population is made up of Indians.

Deputy Police Commissioner Kieran Walshe denied Melbourne was a hot bed for racial violence. "I don't believe that there has been any really detailed racist motives around assaults on Indian people in the past," he said.

In India, a very different interpretation was taken, The Times of India reporting this was "the first death in a slew of vicious attacks on the (Indian) community members".

The newspaper said Mr Garg had in the past repudiated any racial motive in attacks on Indians when asked by his family.