India Urges Brazil to Ease Regulatory Hurdles, Expand Market Access for Pharma Exports

The issue came up for discussion during the eighth meeting of the India-Brazil Trade Monitoring Mechanism (TMM) in Brasilia, Brazil. Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal attended the meeting.

In the meeting, progress was made in facilitating market access for Indian pharmaceutical products. "India emphasised the need for supporting more predictable regulatory pathways and facilitating greater market access," it said.

It added that India can contribute to the availability of affordable, quality medicines and strengthen efforts towards more accessible healthcare.

India and Brazil also agreed for early finalisation of terms of reference for starting negotiations to expand the scope of the existing trade pact between New Delhi and the South American bloc Mercosur.

Mercosur is a trade bloc in Latin America comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. The India-Mercosur Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) came into effect on June 1, 2009.

This PTA has limited coverage and contains only 450 tariff lines or products. Both sides are looking at expanding the scope of this pact to a full-fledged agreement.

"The India-Mercosur Preferential Trade Agreement offers considerable scope for expansion and modernisation. With India-Mercosur bilateral trade reaching $20.84 billion in 2025, both sides committed to early finalisation of the Terms of Reference," the Ministry said.

The terms of reference means the agreed framework that sets the scope, objectives, and rules for the negotiations of a trade pact. Bilateral trade between India and Brazil touched $15.07 billion in 2025-26. The aim is to take the trade to $30 billion by 2030.