Agribusiness, infrastructure and technology are just three of the Argentina/India opportunities.

While Argentina and India are still worlds apart in many respects, the 9,287-mile gap between Buenos Aires and Mumbai seemed a little less distant last week. A delegation form the City of Buenos Aires including Mayor Mauricio Macri just completed a week-long Trade Mission to India for a series of meetings with CEO’s, trade groups and government officials. Macri’s administration celebrated the arrival of Tata Consultancy Services last year, so the gobierno porteño is encouraging other Indian firms to initiate operations in the nascent Technology District. “Mr Macri also pointed to Argentina’s comparative strengths in agriculture and urged Indian firms to invest in the south American country, says Inida’s Orissadiary.  “He added that physical infrastructure development holds the key to Argentina’s growth process and invited Indian companies to consider participating in Argentina’s infrastructure projects.” At the Confederation of Indian Industry’s India-Latin America Conclave, Jyotiraditya Scindia, India’s Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, offered a message of trade escalation and diversification in the region. Scindia encouraged Indian companies to ramp up exports of manufacturing and high value-added products to “other major countries like Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Chile and Uruguay.” (The bulk of Indian exports currently go to Brazil). Agribusiness was another major theme of the Argen-India dialogue with Buenos Aires encouraging more Indian investment in the sector. A meeting between Mayor Macri and the Chairman of Godrej Industries may bear fruit in the coming year. A $1.8 billion conglomerate, Godrej is Inida’s leading manufacturer of oleochemicals.