'Defining moment': Goyal links Lula visit to India’s FTA push and AI partnership play

India-Brazil ties get a new engine: FTAs, AI and a $15 billion trade base to build on

• Lula's India visit aims to boost business, trade, and tech ties
• India-Brazil trade reached $15 billion last year, growth expected
• Both nations focus on AI, health, and joint value chains

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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s five-day visit to India has been positioned by both sides as a turning point in ties between two of the world’s largest democracies, with business, trade and emerging technologies taking centre stage.

Speaking at the Plenary Session of the India-Brazil Business Forum, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the visit “marks a defining moment” in the bilateral relationship and underlined Brazil’s longstanding role as a strong voice of the Global South.

Brazil is India’s largest trading partner in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Bilateral engagement, Goyal said, has steadily expanded across defence, agriculture and energy, with fresh focus now on health, pharmaceuticals, science and technology, and artificial intelligence.

President Lula highlighted the rapid growth in economic ties but stressed the untapped potential. In 2006, bilateral trade stood at around $200 million. It rose to $2.4 billion a few years later and reached $15 billion last year.

“This is not much. The potential of growth is huge,” Lula said, signalling an intent to push trade further.

He added that he had brought along one of the largest business delegations on any of his foreign visits, calling it proof of Brazil’s commitment to strengthening commercial ties with India.

Goyal used the platform to underline India’s expanding global trade footprint. He said India now enjoys preferential access to nearly two-thirds of global trade through its free trade agreements.

Nine FTAs have deepened India’s integration with key developed economies, he said, while negotiations are underway with several other countries. India has finalised terms of reference with Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council, launched discussions with Canada, and hopes to begin formal FTA talks with Ottawa soon.

According to Goyal, these agreements are central to building a climate that allows Indian industry to scale domestically and compete internationally.

Goyal reiterated India’s economic ambition, saying the country is on track to surpass Germany in the next two years to become the world’s third-largest economy.

He invited Brazilian companies to partner with India in sectors such as agriculture, aerospace, automotive manufacturing and digital technologies. Brazil, he noted, is a global agricultural powerhouse, while aerospace and digital ecosystems in both countries are evolving rapidly.

The emphasis was on job creation and joint value chains, rather than transactional trade alone.

Lula, in India primarily to attend the India AI Impact Summit and hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, framed the relationship in broader developmental terms.

“We wish to not be developed countries, but become developed countries,” he said, stressing that emerging economies must actively shape their own growth trajectories.