India and MERCOSUR open talks to widen a preferential pact signed in 2004
The existing agreement covers about 450 tariff lines on each side. Trade with the four founding members rose 49% in the last financial year, and both sides also signed a protocol recognising electronic certificates of origin.
India and MERCOSUR have begun negotiations to expand a preferential trade agreement that has been in force since 2009 and covers roughly 450 product lines on each side.
The launch was announced by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Mario Lubetkin, Uruguay's foreign minister, representing the South American bloc's rotating presidency.
What exists now, and what it does not cover
It was signed on 25 January 2004 and came into force on 1 June 2009. Under it India offers preferential tariff concessions on 450 tariff lines and MERCOSUR offers them on 452. Everything outside those lines trades at ordinary rates.
The two sides have agreed to expand the agreement into areas of mutual interest, and are finalising the terms of reference that will define the scope and structure of the widened deal.
The trade it governs
Commerce between the two has grown quickly.
Two-way trade reached $21 billion in 2025. In the last financial year, India's trade with the four founding members of MERCOSUR came to ₹1,18,127.94 crore, an increase of 49% on the year before. Brazil accounted for ₹71,555.39 crore of that and Argentina for ₹43,765.06 crore.
Those two figures indicate where the relationship is concentrated. Brazil and Argentina together account for the overwhelming majority of the trade, and an expanded agreement would be felt most in those two markets.
The paperwork deal
Alongside the negotiations, the two sides signed what is designated the First Additional Protocol, which recognises electronic certificates of origin.
Under the protocol, electronic certificates carry "the same legal validity and identical value as paper certificates", subject to each party's domestic law.
The stated purpose of the protocol is to reduce transaction costs and the time taken to process and verify certificates of origin under the existing arrangement.
The protocol enters into force once each side completes its internal procedures and notifies the other.
Who is in MERCOSUR
The bloc's founding states are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Bolivia completed its accession in 2024. Peru, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador hold associated status.
Uruguay currently holds the rotating presidency, which is why its foreign minister led the announcement on the South American side.
What this fits into
Both Brazil and India are members of BRICS, whose leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration at a summit in the Indian capital days ago, and that declaration set out shared positions on trade measures the bloc regards as unilateral and protectionist. Goyal used a BRICS platform in New Delhi last week to propose a common trade platform for the group.
An expanded India-MERCOSUR agreement would be a bilateral instance of the same direction of travel: more trade arranged between developing economies, on terms set between them.
What has not happened yet
No tariff lines have changed. No timetable has been published for the negotiation, and no target date has been given for its conclusion.
What has been agreed is to negotiate, and to define the terms of reference for doing so. The electronic certificate protocol is the only operative measure signed, and it takes effect only after both sides complete domestic procedures.
Sources
- ANI via LatestLY — ANI. Goyal and Mario Lubetkin; 450 and 452 tariff lines; $21bn two-way trade in 2025; terms of reference being finalised; MERCOSUR membership.
- Maritime News — Jaspal Singh Naol, from PIB releases. Agreement signed 25 Jan 2004, in force 1 June 2009; FY2025-26 trade of Rs1,18,127.94 crore, up 49%, Brazil Rs71,555.39cr and Argentina Rs43,765.06cr; First Additional Protocol on e-certificates of origin.
