Why India must have a standalone LatAm policy

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s five-nation visit to Brazil, Argentina, Ghana, Trinidad & Tobago, and Namibia was dubbed as New Delhi's outreach to the Global South, headlined by the Brics Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

- Hari Seshasayee

As far as visits go, this was a routine exercise in diplomacy and New Delhi’s way of courting the developing world. The Rio summit will be remembered mostly for the absence of the Chinese and Russian presidents, and the inclusion of Indonesia to the grouping. Whether an expanded Brics will eventually present an alternative to the western-led order is open for debate.

But politics is secondary to business when it comes to Latin America. PM Modi’s visit complements an existing economic relationship that is driven largely by private actors across India and the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. There is far more interplay between Sao Paulo and Mumbai than there is between Brasilia and New Delhi.

From a trade standpoint, India is more important to Brazil than the other way around. In 2024, India was Brazil's ninth-largest trading partner; for India, Brazil was in the 27th place. Trade can also be viewed from a broader, global context. For example, India’s trade with far-off Brazil is about the same as trade with neighbouring Bangladesh, and India exports more to Brazil than it does to Japan or Turkey. Brazil's trade with India is more than its trade with neighbouring Chile or with major economies like South Korea or France.