A violent attack on an Indian student overnight, in which he was repeatedly hit and kicked, was not racially motivated, police believe.

Police say the 24-year-old student was walking along Amos Street, Westmead, in Sydney's west just after 7.30pm when he was hit from behind.

He fell to the ground and was kicked by three men, who stopped only when a passing taxi stopped to help.

Merrylands police crime manager Inspector Adam Phillips said there was no evidence the attack was racially motivated.

The offenders said "nothing racial" to the victim and the attack followed a number of robberies surrounding train stations in the area, Inspector Phillips said.

"There have been a number of problems with people being robbed and they are simply belting them and taking their phone and wallet and they're off," he said.

But Inspector Phillips said there had been "a handful" of attacks on Indian students because they were "making themselves easy victims".

Police are now carrying out a number of operations in the area, Inspector Phillips said, and had already made 13 arrests for street robberies in the past three weeks.

"Again, it's because a lot of them do shift work and are walking home to their units and they are making themselves easy victims," he said.

"What we are doing is running operations at the moment trying to prevent these types of attacks and, on Monday, we are going to hand out safety flyers so they are aware of what is going on around them."

The three men wanted over last night's attack were seen running towards the Parramatta Golf Club.