India emerges as a major partner for Latin America.
When trade relations between Argentina and China hit choppy waters early last year, a new partner suddenly appeared on the horizon. In April 2010, Beijing stopped buying Argentine soybean oil in retaliation for Argentina’s restrictions on Chinese imports. That could have dealt a serious blow: Argentina is the world’s largest exporter of soybean oil, and China is the world’s largest importer. Efforts by the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner failed to resolve the trade spat.
Enter India, which promptly tripled its own imports of Argentine soybean oil from $606 million in 2009 to $1.8 billion in 2010 (Chinese imports over that same period dropped from $1.8 billion to $240 million). This was followed by mutual visits between Argentine Minister of Agriculture Julián Domínguez and his Indian counterpart, Sharad Pawar, and the signing of a memorandum of understanding on agricultural cooperation. Total trade between Argentina and India reached $2.5 billion in 2010 and is likely to reach $3 billion in 2011.
Welcome to the new kid on the block in Latin America.
While much attention has been paid to China’s role in the Americas, the growing Indo-Latin American ties have been largely ignored by the press. But others have noticed the change. In 2010, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) issued a report entitled “India: Latin America’s next big thing?” followed by a similarly bullish report by the Sistema Económico Latinoamericano y del Caribe (SELA).
India's Alternative: High Value Investment
India is now a palpable economic presence from the Caribbean to Uruguay, and its interests are remarkably diverse. Since 2000, Indian companies have invested about $12 billion in the region in information technology (IT), pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, mining, energy, and manufacturing. Among the leading firms operating in the Americas today are the IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (pharma), United Phosphorus (agrochemicals), Shree Renuka Sugars, Havells Sylvania (lighting equipment), Videocon (television), and ONGC Videsh (oil).
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