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Brazil–India relations are thebilateral relations betweenBrazil andIndia.
Brazil was the first Latin American nation to establish diplomatic relations with India in 1948. The ties were elevated to a strategic partnership in 2006, opening a new phase in the bilateral relations.[1] Both the countries are members ofBRICS,G-20,IBSA andG4. The Brazilian presidentJair Bolsonaro was the chief guest at theRepublic Day celebrations of India in 2020.[1]
According to a 2013BBC World Service Poll, only 16% of Brazilians view India's influence positively. Indian opinion on Brazil is also sharply divided, with 20% viewing Brazil positively and 18% viewing Brazil negatively.[2]
India's links with Brazil go back five centuries.[3][4]Portugal’sPedro Álvares Cabral is officially recognised as the first European to “discover” Brazil in 1500. Cabral was sent to India by the King of Portugal after the return ofVasco da Gama from his pioneering journey to India. Cabral is reported to have been blown off course on his way to India. Brazil became an importantPortuguese colony and stop-over in the long journey toGoa. This Portuguese connexion led to the exchange of several agricultural crops between India and Brazil in the colonial days. Indian cattle was also imported to Brazil. Most of the cattle in Brazil is of Indian origin.[5][6] During thePortuguese Empire,chillis were traded from the New World to India and cows were sent the other way, amongst other trades.[citation needed]
Diplomatic relations between India and Brazil were established in 1948. The Indian Embassy opened inRio de Janeiro on May 3, 1948, moving toBrasília on August 1, 1971.[7]
One of the major sources of tension between the two nations was the decolonisation process of the Portuguese enclaves in India, principally Goa. Despite pressure from India on Portugal to retreat from the subcontinent, Brazil supported Portugal's claim for Goa. Brazil only changed course in 1961, when it became increasingly clear that India would succeed intaking control of Goa by force from an increasingly feeble Portugal, which faced too many internal problems to pose a potent military threat to India. Still, when Nehru's armies overwhelmed Portuguese resistance and occupied Goa, the Brazilian government criticised India sharply for violating international law. While Brazil tried to explain to India that its position was to be understood in the context of a long tradition of friendship between Brazil and Portugal, the Indian government was deeply disappointed that Brazil, a democratic and a former colony, would support a non-democratic Portugal against democratic and recently independent India.[8]
In 2009, Brazil approved the sale of 100 MAR-1anti-radiation missiles to Pakistan despite India's pressure on Brazil not to do so.[9] Brazil'sDefense MinisterNelson Jobim called these missiles "very effective ways to monitor" areas flown by war planes, and said the deal with Pakistan was worth 85 millioneuros (167.6 milliondollars).He dismissed protests by India. "Brazil negotiates with Pakistan, not with Pakistan terrorists," Mr Jobim said. "To cancel this deal would be to attribute terrorist activities to the Pakistani Government."[10]
Brazil and India have co-operated in themultilateral level on issues such as international trade and development, environment, reform of theUN and theUNSC expansion.[11] The two-way trade in 2007 nearly tripled to US$3.12 billion from US$1.2 billion in 2004.[12] In 2016, trade between the two nations had increased to US$5.64 billion.[13]
Both countries want the participation of developing countries in theUNSC permanent membership since the underlying philosophy for both of them are: UNSC should be more democratic, legitimate and representative - theG4 is a novel grouping for this realisation.[14]
Brazil and India are involved in theIBSA initiative. The first ever IBSA Summit was held in Brasília in September 2006, followed by the Second IBSA Summit held inPretoria in October 2007, with the third one held inNew Delhi in October 2008. Thefourth IBSA meet was again hosted in Brasília, just before thesecond BRIC summit. Four IBSA Trilateral Commission meetings were already held till 2007 since the first one was held in 2004 and had covered many areas such as science, technology, education, agriculture, energy, culture, health, social issues, public administration and revenue administration. The target ofUS$10 billion in trade was already achieved by 2007.[citation needed]
Both countries view this[clarification needed] as a tool oftransformation diplomacy to bring economic growth,sustainable development, poverty reduction and regional prosperity in the vast regions ofLatin America,Africa andAsia. The IBSA Fund for Alleviation of Poverty and Hunger has already provided funds for capacity building inEast Timor and for the fight againstHIV/AIDS inBurundi and has won the South-South Partnership Award at the 2006UN Day event held inNew York City on 19 December 2006.[15]
In July 2014, the Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi visited Brazil for his first multilateral visit, the6th BRICS summit was held at the north-eastern beach city ofFortaleza.[16] In the Fortaleza summit the group have agreed to establish a financial institution rivaling theWestern-dominatedWorld Bank andIMF, The bank would be named theNew Development Bank as suggested by the Indian side but the contributing parties could not come to an agreement to base the bank's headquarters atNew Delhi. Later the BRICS leader also attended an event inBrasília where they met theUNASUR heads of government. At the same time, the Ministry of External Affairs added Spanish to its list of available languages, which theHindustan Times read as "indicative of the government's intent to go beyond Europe, Asia and the US to forge diplomatic and trade ties with Latin American nations."[17] He travelled there via Germany.[18]
In July 2025,Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Brazil to attend the17th BRICS Summit and held bilateral engagements aimed at strengthening ties between the two emerging economies. He received a warm welcome from the Indian diaspora inRio de Janeiro, featuring cultural performances, including a tribute toOperation Sindoor and devotional music by a Brazilian group.
The visit underscored the deepening Brazil–India partnership, highlighting shared cultural values and growing cooperation in economic, strategic, and multilateral arenas as part of a broader Global South alignment.[19]
Relations between India and Brazil further improved after the election ofJair Bolsonaro asPresident of Brazil in October 2018. Bolsonaro's administration took similar sceptical stances to India on relations withChina, particularly with regards to theBelt and Road Initiative.[20]
This culminated in Bolsonaro attending theDelhi Republic Day parade as chief guest in January 2020, along with a delegation of Brazilian officials.[21][22] During the visit, both Modi and members of the Brazilian delegation such asErnesto Araújo andEduardo Bolsonaro stressed the role of ideological ties in the growing relations between the countries, given the sharednationalist outlook of the countries’ respective leaders.[20][23] Immediately prior to Bolsonaro's visit, the Brazilian Ambassador endorsed the Indian government's stance that the implementation of the2019 Citizenship (Amendment) Act and therevocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir were internal issues for India.[24]
Indian cultural exports such asyoga and cinema have received increasing interest in Brazil.Indians in Brazil have contributed to setting up spiritual centers.[25]
Contacts between the two countries can be traced back to five centuries ago when Brazil and Goa were both outposts in Portugal's colonial outreach.
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