India’s links with Brazil go back five centuries.

Portugal’s Pedro Alvares Cabral is officially recognised as the first European to “discover” Brazil in 1500. Cabral was sent to India by the King of Portugal soon after the return of Vasco de Gama from his pioneering journey. Cabral is reported to have been blown-off course on his way to India. Brazil became an important Portuguese colony and stop-over in the long journey to Goa. This Portuguese connection led to the exchange of several agricultural crops between India and Brazil in the colonial days. Indian cattle was also imported to Brazil. Most of the cattle in Brazil is of Indian origin.

Diplomatic relations between India and Brazil were established in 1948. The Indian Embassy opened in Rio de Janeiro on May 3, 1948. It shifted to Brasilia on August 1, 1971 (Brazil’s capital had moved to Brasilia in 1960).

Brazil and India are large continental sized countries with social diversity, democratic form of government, a multi-ethnic population, and a large population base. Both possess advanced technologies. The two countries share similar perceptions on issues of interest to developing countries and have cooperated in the multilateral fora on issues such as international trade and development, environment, reform of the UN and the UNSC expansion.

There is enormous interest in Brazil in India's culture, religion, performing arts and philosophy. A number of cultural events including performances by famous Kuchipudi dance group, "Raja and Radha Reddy" were organized in the major cities of Brazil ahead of the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to Brasilia from 11-14 September, 2006. Earlier, a very successful Festival of India was organised during the visit of President K.R. Narayanan to Brazil in May 1998.

There are numerous organisations teaching yoga and they invite yoga teachers from India for instructions and learning. ISKCON, Satya Sai Baba, Maharshi Mahesh Yogi, Bhakti Vedanta Foundation and other Indian spiritual gurus and organisations have their chapters in Brazil. The University of Londrina has a good specialization on India in its Afro-Asian studies department. Mahatma Gandhi is highly regarded in the country and the government has sought to teach his philosophy of non-violence to the police to improve its track record. A statue of Mahatma Gandhi is located in a prominent square in Rio de Janeiro. A group called the Filhos de Gandhi (Sons of Gandhi) participates regularly in the carnival in Salvador. Private Brazilian organizations occasionally invite Indian cultural troupes.

In recent years, relations between Brazil and India have grown considerably and co-operation between the two countries has been extended to such diverse areas as science & technology, pharmaceuticals and space. The two-way trade in 2007 nearly doubled to US$ 3.12 billion from US$ 1.2 billion in 2004.

India attaches tremendous importance to its relationship with this Latin American giant and hopes to see the areas of co-operation expand in the coming years.