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The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has sought Expression of Interest (EoI) for manufacturing and supplying pharmaceutical products for Brazil as a part of official engagements initiated by Brazil with India on enhancing strategic India–Brazil cooperation in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.
This comes close on the heels of India and Brazil having agreed to broaden the scope of the existing preferential trade agreement (PTA) between New Delhi and the MERCOSUR bloc, aiming to strengthen economic ties and boost bilateral trade. MERCOSUR, a South American trading bloc, comprises Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, and Suriname.
The India-Mercosur PTA came into effect on June 1, 2009.
“Brazil has expressed its intent to strengthen strategic cooperation with India to foster synergies, accelerate joint projects, and promote productive and technological collaboration. A preliminary list of focus areas has been shared, which may be further expanded based on mutual interest and industry feedback,” according to officials associated with the development.
Key areas identified for cooperation include pharmaceutical manufacturing, which will involve technical cooperation for local production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), vaccines and insulin.
Focus is also on technical collaboration and joint ventures for nationalization of strategic health technologies like linear accelerators, tomography systems, x-ray detectors and diagnostic ultrasound equipment.
Other major areas are medical devices and diagnostics with focus on Brazil’s most imported medical products, classified under the Harmonized System of MERCOSUR, laboratory diagnostic reagents, medical instruments and devices (e.g., probes, cannulas) and MRI machines.
The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) with the support of the Union ministry of commerce is also organizing business delegation to Chile, Peru, Guatemala and Colombia between December 1, 2025 and December 12, 2025.
Chile, Peru, Guatemala and Colombia, which fall under the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, offers great potential for Indian pharmaceutical products and India’s exports during the FY 2024-25 is USD 2036 million contributing about 6.69% of the total pharma exports from India.
The delegation is planned to visit these countries under the Market Access Initiative (MAI) Scheme of the Council. India’s drugs and pharmaceutical exports stood at USD 30.46 billion in FY25.
India has also been witnessing rising exports to Brazil signalling growing trust in its pharmaceutical capabilities, while imports from Brazil into India have demonstrated the balanced and mutually beneficial nature of growing trade partnerships.
“Brazil being the largest country in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region registered a positive growth of 5.95% in exports during April 2025. LAC had a 1.05% share in imports with USD 91.34 million. India’s total imports in 2024-25 amounted to USD 8,188.26 million, with April 2025 imports at USD 748.56 million,” according to official data.
Major collaborations between Brazil and India in July this year were also a part of the discussions with Kenneth Felix Haczynski da Nóbrega, Ambassador of Brazil to India particularly in the areas of contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) and the co-development of innovative molecules.
Namit Joshi, chairman of Pharmexcil, also highlighted Pharmexcil’s role in promoting Indian pharmaceutical exports, supporting exporters, and advancing bilateral market access between India and Brazil.
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