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India cut its poverty rate from over 20% to about 5% in just over ten years, established itself as one of the largest technology and artificial intelligence hubs on the planet, and is now attracting Brazil’s interest for negotiations involving strategic minerals and rare earths, essential raw materials for electric cars, solar panels, and defense equipment.
The India has ceased to be associated only with poverty and social contrasts to position itself as one of the largest economic forces on the planet. The most populous country in the world recorded GDP growth of around 7% in the last year, one of the highest among the major global economies, and has been attracting investments from all continents. Bangalore, in the south of the country, has established itself as a hub for artificial intelligence and digital services that cater to global clients, while Mumbai serves as the financial heart of a nation that produces more films per year than Hollywood and generates billions in its entertainment industry.
In this context of rapid ascent, Brazil has identified a strategic opportunity in India. Negotiations between the two countries have focused on strategic minerals and rare earths, essential raw materials for the manufacture of electric cars, solar panels, smartphones, and defense equipment. India is becoming what many analysts are already calling “the new China” for Brazil: a gigantic consumer market in full expansion, with a growing demand for inputs that Brazilian territory possesses in abundance.
How India Escaped Poverty and Became an Economic Power in a Decade
According to information from the channel Band Jornalismo, the transformation of India in the last fifteen years is one of the most impressive economic stories of the century. In 2011, the country’s poverty rate exceeded 20% of the population. Recent estimates indicate that this number has dropped to around 5%, the result of digital inclusion policies, investment in infrastructure, and openness to foreign capital. The population has started to consume more, average income has risen, and the internal market has expanded at a speed that few emerging economies have managed to replicate.
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This enrichment did not happen by chance. India heavily invested in technical education and training engineers, creating a base of human capital that today feeds the technology and digital services sectors. Bangalore has become a global reference in software development and artificial intelligence, with companies serving clients from Europe, the United States, and Asia. The country combined skilled labor with competitive costs and growing digital infrastructure, attracting global technology giants that established research and operation centers in Indian territory.
Why India is called “the new China” for Brazil
The comparison with China is not a rhetorical exaggeration. India has already surpassed its Asian neighbor in population and is on track to become the third-largest economy in the world. For Brazil, this means a new consumer market with over 1.4 billion people demanding exactly the type of product that the country has the capacity to supply: agricultural commodities, minerals, and increasingly, critical minerals essential for the global energy transition.
Negotiations between Brazil and India involve strategic minerals and rare earths, a group of elements indispensable for the manufacturing of permanent magnets used in electric motors, wind turbines, and advanced defense systems. India needs to diversify its sources of supply for these materials to reduce dependence on China, which controls most of the global processing chain. Brazil, with significant reserves of these minerals, appears as a natural partner to meet this growing demand.
The role of technology and artificial intelligence in Indian ascendancy
India has not only grown by selling cheap services. The country has built an innovation ecosystem that now rivals the largest technological centers in the world. Bangalore hosts research centers of companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, in addition to a vibrant ecosystem of startups developing solutions in artificial intelligence, fintech, and digital health. The information technology sector accounts for a significant portion of India’s service exports.
The impact of this transformation goes beyond the economy. Accelerated digitalization has changed the way the Indian population accesses public services, conducts banking transactions, and connects to the job market. India’s digital payment system, UPI, processes billions of transactions per month and is considered one of the most advanced in the world. This digital infrastructure creates a favorable environment for India to absorb and apply new technologies at scale, including artificial intelligence in sectors such as agriculture, logistics, and manufacturing.
What Brazil has to offer and what it expects in return
Brazil enters this relationship with clear advantages. The country has some of the largest reserves of strategic minerals and rare earths on the planet, in addition to a predominantly renewable energy matrix that adds environmental value to the production chain. For India, importing these inputs from Brazil represents a concrete alternative to the almost exclusive dependence on China, which has already shown a willingness to use control over rare earths as a tool of geopolitical pressure.
On the Brazilian side, the interest goes beyond simple mineral exports. Brazil seeks to attract Indian investments in technology, expand partnerships in research and development, and diversify its trade agenda with a partner that is growing at consistent rates. The bilateral relationship, historically modest compared to Brazil’s other trade partners, has the potential to become one of the most relevant in the next decade, as India consolidates its position as an economic and technological power.
What is needed for India and Brazil to solidify this partnership
Despite the potential, the relationship between the two countries still faces obstacles. The geographical distance increases logistics costs, Indian tariff barriers for industrialized products are high, and mutual knowledge between the markets is still limited. Brazilian entrepreneurs need to understand India’s regulatory complexity, while Indian investors still know little about opportunities outside of Brazilian agribusiness.
India is a country of contrasts that still struggles with regional inequality, poor infrastructure in rural areas, and significant environmental challenges. But the growth trajectory, the scale of the consumer market, and the demand for strategic minerals and rare earths make it impossible to ignore the country as a trade partner. For Brazil, the question is not whether it is worth approaching India, but rather how quickly and deeply this approach will happen.
Do you believe that India can really become the new China for Brazil, or is this comparison exaggerated? Share your thoughts in the comments about the relationship between the two countries and whether Brazil is prepared to seize this opportunity.
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