This article covers cooperation between India and Malaysia in defence, the digital sector and traditional medicine, together with India's ITEC training offer to Malaysia. It draws only on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) bilateral brief of June 2026.

Defence cooperation

According to the MEA brief of June 2026, India-Malaysia defence relations have developed over the years from military training to supply of defence equipment and enhanced security dialogues. The brief identifies the MoU on Defence Cooperation signed in 1993 as the foundation of defence relations between the two countries. In July 2023, during the official visit of India's Defence Minister to Malaysia, an amendment to the MoU was signed.

Dialogue and staff talks

Staff talks between all three services, at apex level, are held regularly. The most recent rounds recorded in the brief are:

  • the 10th Army to Army Staff Talks, held in December 2025 in Kuala Lumpur
  • the 11th Air Force Staff Talks, held in New Delhi in November 2024
  • the 10th Navy to Navy Staff Talks, held in Kuala Lumpur on 10 June 2025

The 13th Secretary General level Malaysia India Defence Cooperation Meeting (MIDCOM) took place in Malaysia on 19 February 2025.

Defence industry

The annual 'Mini Defence Expo cum Defence Industry Symposium' was held in Kuala Lumpur on 12 February 2026. It saw participation by 12 Indian defence companies and 35 Malaysian companies. India also had a significant participation, in the brief's words, in the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) 2025 in May 2025.

Exercises and ship visits

The brief describes bilateral exercises as being at the core of defence cooperation:

  • the bilateral Army Exercise HARIMAU SHAKTI, last held in Rajasthan in December 2025
  • the bilateral Naval Exercise SAMUDRA LAKSAMANA, conducted from February-March 2024 off the coast of Visakhapatnam
  • the bilateral Air Exercise UDARA SHAKTI, which took place at Kuantan, Malaysia in August 2024

The Royal Malaysian Navy, with its vessel KD INDERA SAKTI, participated in the International Fleet Review (IFR), and the Deputy-Chief of the RMN attended the IONS Chief's Conclave in Vishakhapatnam in February 2026. Indian Navy ships regularly pay port visits to Malaysia.

Digital cooperation

Both countries have established a Malaysia India Digital Council (MIDC) to enhance engagement in the digital domain. The brief lists its areas as including Digital Public Infrastructure, B2B partnerships, capacity building, cyber security, and emerging technologies such as 5G, quantum computing, cloud computing and IoT. Digital payments and semiconductors were among the outcome areas of the Prime Minister's visit of February 2026, which is described in the relations article.

Traditional medicine

Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy systems are practised in Malaysia. India and Malaysia formalised cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine in October 2010, and a G2G MoU on Ayurveda and other traditional systems of medicine was signed in August 2024.

In December 2025, a Malaysian delegation led at senior official level attended the Global Summit on Traditional Medicine jointly hosted by India and WHO. The 10th Bilateral technical meeting took place on the sidelines of the summit.

Two Malaysian universities have academic links with Indian institutions in this field:

  • University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) has an Academic Chair on Ayurveda, operationalised in September 2024 in collaboration with the Institute for Technical Research in Ayurveda (ITRA), Ministry of AYUSH.
  • The University of Cyberjaya (UoC) offers a Bachelor's degree in Homeopathy and signed an MoU with the Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH) in October 2025.

Training under ITEC

India offers 40 ITEC slots to Malaysia annually. In addition, special ITEC slots are allotted from time to time.