Captain Bateman CSC was awarded the bar for outstanding achievement in the development of the Australia-India bilateral defence relationship as the Australian Defence Adviser to India.

"It is very gratifying to be recognised and I'm honored," he said.

"But it is a team effort."

He quickly praised the "small" Defence team that were part of the Indian operation.

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"It wasn't just me - we also had Major Daniel White who was the assistant defence advisor and during my time two civilian first secretaries for defence - Lachlan Sillar and Kym Heriot-Darragh along with four local Indian staff who really helped us," he said.

"During the three years in the role it was great to see the defence relationship move forward quite a lot.

"It was a little sad with the COVID situation in the last year (2020) and we probably didn't move forward as much as I would have wanted. But we achieved all sorts of good things.

"It was a busy time and culminated in the signing of a comprehensive partnership with India in June 2020 and Defence was a major pillar within that document."

Captain Bateman, who has now retired after a 39 year career in the RAN said the posting was one of "the best jobs" he had done during his naval career.

"It was an amazing experience being in India and New Delhi for three years," he said.

"We [his wife Liz] had both previously been to India - I had been there a number of times on ships and when we were young we backpacked together through India, so we knew what to expect.

"It is an incredible place and to be able to experience the day to day life in India was amazing.

"It's an amazing place, full of colour, noise and movement and it was an amazing experience."

He said the only downside to the posting was the last year where "COVID greatly affected what they were able to do".

"My father was ill in the March of 2020 and Liz and I came home, and unfortunately with the travel rules at the time Liz wasn't able to return to India with me for the last seven months, which took a bit of the gloss off the experience," he said.

"Apart from that and COVID intervening and not being able to push relations forward as much as we would have liked in that last year, I would say it was probably the best job I had in my naval career."

Although still undertaking some reserve work with the navy, Captain Bateman and his wife are enjoying life in Gerringong and hope "to do more traveling in the future".

"We have our eyes on a yacht and would like to go sailing around the world, that's if the world settles down," he said.

"That's the plan and we'll see where it takes us."

His citation says Captain Bateman progressed the India-Australia defence relationship to a new level.

"His personal efforts resulted in the success of Exercise Ausindex - the most complex Royal Australian Navy deployment to India since the Second World War," the citation reads.

"The trust he nurtured significantly contributed to the signing of the mutual logistic support arrangement and Australia receiving an invitation to re-join Exercise Malabar in 2020.

"His exemplary performance enhanced whole-of-government interactions and elevated Australia's standing in the eyes of India."