India, Brazil look to broaden PTA, eye $20 bn bilateral trade by 2030

India and Brazil plan to broaden their preferential trade agreement under the Mercosur framework, eyeing $20 billion in bilateral trade by 2030 and new digital cooperation

India and Brazil are looking to broaden the preferential trade agreement (PTA) and are eyeing a bilateral trade target of $20 billion by 2030, up from $12 billion in 2024.

 

India and Brazil have a limited trade agreement, as a part of a part of the PTA with the Latin American bloc – Mercosur. In July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Argentina and Brazil saw discussions over the expansion of the existing limited trade deal with Mercosur bloc – comprising Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay as its members.

 

“On the occasion of their meeting in New Delhi on 16 October, 2025, the Vice President of Brazil and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, Geraldo Alckmin, and the Minister of Commerce and Industry of India, Piyush Goyal, welcomed the interest of both India and the MERCOSUR Member States in deepening their existing Preferential Trade Agreement, with a view to promoting trade and investment between the Parties,” commerce department said in a statement on Thursday.

 

 

In addition, the Brazilian side has also indicated that it will work in a coordinated manner with its Mercosur partners towards a ‘substantial, swift, and mutually beneficial deepening of the agreement’.

 

India-Mercosur PTA was signed in January 2004, but came into effect from June 2009. Both sides had given tariff concessions ranging from 10 per cent to 100 per cent. India had given tariff concessions on 450 tariff lines, while the Latin American trade bloc had given concessions to 452 tariff lines. The main idea behind a PTA is to eliminate or remove tariffs, covering limited number goods and less comprehensive as compared to a free trade agreement (FTA).

 

“This year exports from India to Brazil grew over 30 per cent and exports from Brazil are also growing. We will overcome the foreign trade target of $20 billion in 2030. Both countries do not compete but complement each other. Brazil is opening its doors to Indian investment, and together we can transform our economies and forge a strong Brazil-India alliance for the future,” Geraldo Alckmin, Vice President and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services of Brazil said at the ‘India-Brazil Business Dialogue’.

 

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that Goyal also said that he has discussed expanding PTA with Brazil from its current level so that ‘we can’ in the future penetrate the South American market in a bigger way.

 

Alckim further said that Indian companies can invest in Brazilian sectors including automotive, IT, renewables, clean energy, healthcare, aerospace, agriculture, semiconductors and digital innovation. “We are ready to launch a digital partnership Brazil-India towards AI, high performance computing and technological start-ups. This digital partnership will be a driving force for the new green and digital economy thereby creating more jobs and technological sovereignty,” he said.