Photo: screengrab from the official website of Brasil 247

By Brasil 247 – Brazil is intensifying its trade and investment agenda with India as President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visits New Delhi for the India-Brazil Business Forum 2026 and the inauguration of ApexBrasil’s first office in the Indian capital, according to official information released by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency.

The visit comes amid a sharp expansion in bilateral trade. In 2025, trade between Brazil and India reached $15.2 billion, a 25 percent increase compared to 2024. Brazilian authorities have set a goal of raising total trade flows to $20 billion by 2026 and expanding the range of traded products from 1,500 to 2,000.

“Two superlative countries like India and Brazil cannot remain distant. The strength of our democracies, the diversity of our cultures, and the vigor of our economies attract us,” President Lula said, emphasizing the political and economic weight of the partnership.

With a gross domestic product of about $4.1 trillion and a population of 1.5 billion, India combines demographic scale and sustained economic growth. Its expanding demand for food, energy, industrial inputs and sustainability solutions aligns with sectors in which Brazil holds competitive advantages.

Jorge Viana, president of ApexBrasil, described the current moment as the beginning of a new phase in bilateral ties. “Brazil and India share an extraordinary long-standing cultural and economic relationship. In the first decade of President Lula’s administration, bilateral trade grew exponentially. We believe that now is the time to usher in a new phase of expansion in relations between the two countries. This is what ApexBrasil is committed to and working toward. The world’s most populous country is now one of the markets with the greatest potential for Brazil,” he said.

The opening of ApexBrasil’s office in New Delhi — its 11th international office — is intended to provide permanent support to Brazilian companies seeking to enter or expand in the Indian market, strengthen export promotion and monitor business opportunities more closely.

In 2025, Brazilian exports to India reached $6.9 billion, the highest level in the past twenty years and a 30 percent increase compared to 2024. Between 2021 and 2025, exports to India grew at an average annual rate of 9.4 percent, above the growth rate of Brazil’s total exports worldwide during the same period.

Brazil’s export basket to India remains concentrated. The main products include sugars and molasses, crude petroleum oils, vegetable fats and oils, raw cotton, and iron ore and its concentrates. Demand for iron ore has been driven by India’s infrastructure expansion and industrial growth.

According to ApexBrasil’s Trade and Investment Profile – India 2026, 378 export opportunities have been identified for Brazilian products in the Indian market. The opportunities are concentrated in mineral fuels, non-edible raw materials, machinery and transport equipment, as well as food and beverage products, technology, health, fashion and construction.

Agribusiness and base industry products stand out, including metal ores, scrap, cellulose and textile fibers. There are also opportunities linked to India’s strong jewelry industry, such as precious and semi-precious stones. In the agro-industrial sector, ethanol and its derivatives, along with cotton exports, are highlighted as areas for expansion. Opportunities are also emerging in industrial machinery, equipment for agribusiness and power generation, and sectors linked to the energy transition, including biofuels and renewable energy.

Trade is not limited to primary goods. India is a key supplier of higher value-added products to Brazil, especially medicines, pharmaceutical inputs, chemicals and auto parts. In 2025, Brazilian imports from India totaled $8.4 billion, a 21 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Investment flows have also intensified. India’s stock of foreign direct investment in Brazil reached $2.1 billion in 2024. Between 2015 and 2025, 134 greenfield projects with Indian capital were recorded in Brazil, with an estimated value of $1.8 billion.

Brazilian companies are expanding their footprint in India as well. In 2025, Embraer announced the opening of an aircraft factory in New Delhi, with an estimated investment of $167.3 million. In the same year, Brazilian industrial group WEG acquired Sanelec Excitation Systems.

The bilateral relationship is anchored in the Mercosur-India Preferential Trade Agreement, in force since 2009, which covers 450 tariff lines with reductions of up to 100 percent in import tariffs. Brazil and India also cooperate in major international forums, including BRICS, the G20, BASIC and IBAS, reinforcing their coordination within the Global South.

President Lula’s visit reaffirms Brazil’s strategy of diversifying markets, strengthening South-South cooperation and expanding its international economic presence through deeper engagement with India.

(Reported by Brasil 247 on Feb 17, 2026)