At the invitation of Argentine President Javier Milei, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi honoured Argentina with a visit on July 4 and 5, 2025. Although this was not a state visit, Prime Minister Modi received a welcome corresponding to the importance the Argentine government places on India, in addition to a warm personal exchange with President Javier Milei.
This is the first time in 57 years since an Indian Prime Minister had made a bilateral visit to the country. The last time was in 1968, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and then de facto President Juan Carlos Onganía, held a private meeting. In addition, she met with prominent intellectual figures, diplomats, and members of Argentina’s influential classes.
Modi’s visit led with delegation-level talks, and a busy agenda that included trade in energy, lithium, pharmaceuticals, food, minerals, nuclear, rare earths, and defence – all topics of primary relevance to both countries. Argentina is part of the lithium triangle, which runs along the Andes mountains with Bolivia and Chile, one of the world’s richest reserves of the mineral with 75% of the world’s supply.[1] This is critical for India which has on-going plans to electrify its road transport, but has limited access to the minerals needed for it.
While Modi has been leading his country for 11 years, the government of Javier Milei, which took office on December 10, 2023, is relatively new. But like Modi, libertarian Milei, too, is committed to the country’s economic and social recovery after decades of inefficient governance and financial imprudence. Famous for his symbolic chainsaw, he has rapidly advanced a profound and historic dismantling of the complex network of regulations that stifled private enterprise and were sources of state corruption. This has allowed it to slow rampant inflation and achieve an extraordinary reduction in poverty, which reached more than 50% only for the month of December 2023 and growing, and now stands at around 30% for the whole year.
In 18 months, Milei’s government has placed Argentina among only five countries in the world with a fiscal surplus. The government has been honouring its debts, thus fulfilling all its international and domestic obligations, focusing on attracting investments in all sectors, including information technologies and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Against this backdrop, India is an important trading partner for Argentina, not only in terms of exchanges but also in terms of investment. Bilateral trade has picked up over the last year, to $5.2 billion in 2024, and is expected to increase by over 50% in 2025. Companies from both countries are investing in each other in a wide variety of areas. Major Indian players[2] like IT services majors Mphasis, TCS and Infosys, to agri sector giant UPL, consumers products Godrej, pharma producers like Glenmark and auto makers like Bajaj, TVS, and Royal Enfield are present in Argentina. From Argentina, AI leader Globant and OLX in IT services and civil construction expert TECHINT, have substantive operations in India.
Argentina views India as an important global player, which projects its influence as a peaceful world power focused on bringing well-being to its people – something admired by Milei.
India and Argentina already have a strategic partnership agreement. Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Argentina gives a boost to the bilateral, which has been growing economically and politically.[3] Argentines and Indians alike, remember the visit of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore to Argentina in 1924, and his friendship with the renowned writer Victoria Ocampo, who he affectionately called ‘Vijaya.’
Appropriately, Modi ended his visit with a stop at the monuments of the Mahatma Gandhi and Nobel Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore, both located in the centre of the City of Buenos Aires.
Guillermo E. Devoto is former Consul General and Director of the Promotion Centre of Argentina in Mumbai.
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References
[1] Samar Ahmad, “The Lithium Triangle: Where Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia Meet.” Harvard International Review, January 15, 2020. https://hir.harvard.edu/lithium-triangle/
[2] “INDIA-ARGENTINA BILATERAL RELATIONS.” Embassy of India, Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 24, 2025. https://www.indembarg.gov.in/page/india-and-argentina/
[3] “Modi, Milei Agree to Deepen India-Argentina Strategic Ties.” IndBiz I Economic Diplomacy Division, July 7, 2025. https://indbiz.gov.in/modi-milei-agree-to-deepen-india-argentina-strategic-ties/#:~:text=India%20and%20Argentina%20already%20collaborate,agreement%20was%20held%20in%20January