The last frontier — why the region matters

• Latin America has traditionally been viewed as the last frontier in India’s foreign policy, relatively neglected and overlooked.
• Some analysts suggest that this neglect is more psychological than geographical. The region holds significant untapped potential.

Evolution of relations — and the Modi phase

• Cold War era → engagement limited by India’s inward-looking, protectionist approach and its focus on the immediate neighbourhood; significant US influence in the region, India’s closed economy and geographical distance constrained interaction.
• Post-Cold War re-engagement → India’s private sector re-engaged, particularly in information technology and pharmaceuticals. Participation in BASIC, IBSA and BRICS widened cooperation.
• Institutionalized dialogue → in 2012 the first Pan-LAC summit was held in New Delhi, formalizing dialogue between India and CELAC.
• Trade → India signed a Free Trade Agreement with MERCOSUR; Latin American countries view India as a promising market in IT, agro-business, pharmaceuticals and entertainment.
• Technological cooperation → tele-medicine, tele-education, e-governance and space capabilities.
• Diversification → both sides seek to diversify trade partners amid rising protectionism in the West; Latin America seeks alternative markets after the US shale gas boom.
• Alternative to China → India’s rise is appreciated by countries concerned about China’s extractive policies, high interest rates and lack of local employment in Chinese projects.

Consolidating relations under Narendra Modi

• Intervention has been intermittent. As Prime Minister, Narendra Modi visited Latin America only thrice; two visits were on the sidelines of the 6th BRICS summit in Brazil and the 13th G20 summit in Argentina.
• As protests against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro intensified in 2019, the crisis posed a challenge; ONGC found itself in difficulty owing to delayed payment of dues by Venezuela’s PDVSA. US economic sanctions on Venezuela threatened India’s energy relations to some degree, even as India intended to develop energy relations with other states such as Mexico.
• Traditionally, engagement has been guided by India’s role in NAM and by the idea of the ‘Global South’, which still has resonance in Latin America. President Ram Nath Kovind delivered a speech on “India and the Global South” at the University of Havana; Vice President Venkaiah Naidu · Vivek Mishra attended the NAM summit in Venezuela in 2016.

Country-wise engagement

Recent developments

• High-level visits → the Presidents of Chile and Paraguay and the Prime Minister of Jamaica in 2024-25; India reciprocated with visits to Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Argentina and Brazil.
• Diplomatic missions → embassies opened in Bolivia and Paraguay; Honduras and St Kitts & Nevis established missions in Delhi.
• Trade growth → bilateral trade reached $35.7 billion in 2023-24, with both sides aiming at $100 billion by 2025. India exports pharmaceuticals, IT services and automobiles, and imports crude oil and raw materials.
• Energy → Latin America supplies nearly 20 per cent of India’s crude oil imports, with Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela the key contributors.
• Indian companies → Indian IT firms employ over 40,000 locals in the region.
• Renewable energy → India and Brazil have strengthened partnership in biofuels and solar energy; the International Solar Alliance drives shared goals.
• Digital public infrastructure → India’s UPI payment system and vaccination databases have found resonance where governments seek to modernise governance and public service delivery.
• Agriculture → millet cultivation in Guyana, edible-oil linkages, agro-chemical manufacturing in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, and agro-research tie-ups, with a focus on food security and climate-smart practices.
• Cultural affinities → literary links running through Rabindranath Tagore, Victoria Ocampo, Cecilia Meireles and Octavio Paz have kept people-to-people connections alive.

Challenges

Views of scholars · theory · way forward

Theoretical linkages

• South–South cooperation → both regions draw on colonial legacies to act as partners, not patrons, across food security, climate finance and development funding.
• Active non-alignment → India and many Latin American countries assert a pragmatic middle path, seen in their shared stance on the Ukraine war. This aligns with Stephen Walt’s theory of balance of threat, where both sides avoid being drawn into great power rivalries.
• Complex interdependence → the dense web of trade, technology, energy and cultural ties reduces the potential for geopolitical conflict.

Way forward

• Promote Latin American studies in Indian universities and facilitate student exchange; use Bollywood as soft power, given its following in the region.
• Support private-sector engagement through incentives; maintain institutionalized dialogue and sustain its momentum; increase high-level diplomatic visits.
• Pursue trade agreements → PTAs and FTAs with countries such as Mexico and Colombia; conclude the Chile CEPA and an expanded MERCOSUR arrangement; promote trade fairs, exhibitions and economic missions.
• Ease logistics and standards, build Spanish and Portuguese capability, and deploy targeted finance for energy, critical minerals and agri-value chains.
• Sectoral openings → agriculture and food value chains (agri-tech, water-efficient farming, oilseeds, pulses, processed foods); the energy transition (solar, wind, green hydrogen, grid equipment under ISA frameworks); critical minerals and industry 4.0 (lithium and copper in the Southern Cone, services-led manufacturing in Mexico and Brazil).