Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday arrived on a two-day visit to Argentina to review ongoing cooperation and discuss ways to enhance bilateral partnership in key areas. The visit marks Modi’s second visit to the nation as prime minister. He had earlier visited the country in 2018 for the G20 Summit.
History of Bilateral Relations
Both nations first established diplomatic ties on February 3, 1949. India had previously opened a Trade Commission in Buenos Aires in 1943 which was later converted into an embassy in 1949. Argentina had established a consulate in Kolkata in 1920 which was later transferred to Delhi in 1950.
Several Argentinian presidents have visited Argentina since 1961 when Argentine President Arturo Frondizi visited India marking the first state visit by an Argentine President. President Reynaldo Bignone, Raul Alfonsin, Carlos Menem, Cristina Kirchner, Mauricio Macri and Alberto Fernandez have all visited India during their tenures to bolster the ties that the two nations have.
In 1968, Indira Gandhi became the first prime minister to visit Argentina followed by President Zail Singh in 1984 and PM PV Narsimha Rao in 1995.
Celebrating their prolonged friendship, Several events were organised during 2024 to commemorate the 75 years of establishment of bilateral relations. It culminated in the launch of a commemorative book titled "India-Argentina: 75 Años de Relaciones Diplomáticas" (India-Argentina: 75 Years of Diplomatic Relations) on 19 December 2024.
Trade Relations
The bilateral trade more than doubled in three years from 2019 to 2022 between the two nations, peaking at USD 6.4 billion in 2022. In 2021 and 2022, India was Argentina's fourth largest trading partner, according to Embassy of India in Argentina's data.
In 2024, India became Argentina’s fifth largest trading partner as bilateral trade rose by 33 percent amounting to USD 5.23 billion. The major exported commodities from Argentina to India included Animal/vegetable fats and oils, Ores, slag, ash, Raw hides excluding furskins, Organic chemicals and Machines, engines, pumps.
Indo-Argentine trade experienced a significant resurgence in bilateral trade and strategic cooperation during the first quadrimester of 2025, registering an impressive growth of 53.9%, with total trade valued at USD 2,055.14 million. India is ranked as Argentina's fourth-largest trading partner and export destination.
The trade between both countries received a significant boost in 2021. Until then, Ukraine served as the major supplier of sunflower oil to India. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine’s total exports of sunflower oil fell more than 20 percent the following year. More importantly, Ukraine’s exports to India fell dramatically from 1.5 million tons in 2021 to 633,623 tons in 2022 and only 374,619 tons in 2023, according to ORF data.
Until then, Argentina exported only 14 percent of its sunflower oil exports to India. Following Russia’s invasion, the Latin American nation ramped up its produce to India. In 2022, Argentina exported 405,573 tons of sunflower oil to India, about 78 percent of its global exports of 519,900 tons; in 2023, these exports increased to 542,366 tons.
A major chunk of Argentina’s exports still constitute more than 50 percent of the bilateral trade.
Major items of India’s exports to Argentina include petroleum oils, agro chemicals, yarn-fabric-madeups, organic chemicals, bulk drugs and two-wheelers. Several Indian companies have established remote operations in Argentina with a total investment of over USD 1.2 billion. These include Mphasis (most recent) , TCS, Comviva, Infosys, AEGIS-Essar, Crisil, UPL, Advanta Seeds, Bajaj Motorcycles, TVS, Royal Enfield, Hero Motors, Glenmark, Godrej and Sri Sri Tattva. Argentina’s investment in India stands at approximately USD 120 million with the presence of Globant and OLX in IT services and TECHINT in the engineering sector.
