New Delhi: Bilateral trade between India and Brazil could reach $30 billion by 2030, doubling from current levels, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said.
Trade between the two countries stood at $2.4 billion in 2006, when they formalised their strategic partnership. It has since expanded to around $13 billion, but leaders on both sides said that the figure remains far below potential.
“The distance between Brazil and India is merely a detail in the face of the potential of friendship between our two nations,” Lula said on Saturday, as he addressed the India–Brazil Business Forum in the capital during his state visit.
He added that both countries had historically prioritised other markets over each other. “We have now resolved to change that behaviour.”
Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal also described the current trade volume as “truly suboptimal” despite recent growth. “We have to be significantly more ambitious today,” he said, pointing to structural complementarities between the two economies.
Brazil’s reserves of niobium, lithium and iron ore, along with its strength in agriculture, can align with India’s manufacturing base and technology capabilities to build resilient value chains, he said, inviting Brazilian firms to co-invest in India.
As per the commerce ministry data, in total goods trade terms, bilateral merchandise trade between India and Brazil stood at $12.23 billion in FY24, comprising $6.02 billion in exports and $6.21 billion in imports. In FY25, total goods trade was $12.21 billion, with exports rising to $6.77 billion and imports easing to $5.44 billion.
The business forum was organised by industry lobby body Ficci in partnership with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Brazilian trade authorities, and it underscored a push by both sides to scale up economic engagement amid shifting global supply chains.
The forum coincided with the signing of multiple agreements spanning bioenergy, iron ore, pharmaceuticals, trade promotion and aerospace. In the critical minerals space, NMDC, Vale and Adani Gangavaram Port signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding to set up an iron ore blending facility in a Special Economic Zone at Gangavaram Port, with an estimated investment of about $500 million.
The project is expected to strengthen raw material integration between the two countries and improve logistics efficiency for steel producers.
In pharmaceuticals, Farmanguinhos/Fiocruz and Biocon Pharma signed an MoU for joint research and development in strategic medicines, including oncology and rare diseases, aimed at public health systems.
Separately, BahiaFarma, Biocon Biologics and Bionovis entered into a commitment agreement for the productive development of Pertuzumab, a HER-2 metastatic breast cancer treatment, covering an estimated 72,000 patients annually at a procurement value of BRL 503.4 million.
In aerospace, Brazilian manufacturer Embraer signed an MoU with Adani Defence & Aerospace to explore setting up a final assembly line for the E175 regional jet in India, marking a potential expansion of high-technology manufacturing collaboration.
Beyond commercial deals, both sides emphasised coordination on multilateral economic governance. Goyal said that India and Brazil share a commitment to ensuring that global intellectual property frameworks account for the needs of developing countries and protect indigenous technologies. The remarks come as India prepares to assume the BRICS presidency from Brazil in 2026, reinforcing South–South cooperation at a time of trade realignments.
President Lula also referred to the broader trajectory of Brazil’s economic management, noting that the country’s international reserves had expanded from almost nil in 2005 to $649 billion today.