This article covers the economic relationship between India and the Philippines: bilateral trade figures, the main goods traded, investment in each direction, business events and the planned negotiations on a trade agreement. It is based on the MEA brief of April 2026, and all figures are given as they appear there.
Bilateral trade
According to the MEA brief of April 2026, which cites the official trade figures of the Department of Commerce, bilateral trade between India and the Philippines increased from USD 2.03 billion in 2020-21 to $3.34 billion in 2024-25. In FY 2025-26, total trade was $2.97 billion till December 2025.
The brief also gives the following year-by-year figures, in US$ million:
- 2020-21: India's exports 1457.30, India's imports 572.47, total trade 2029.77
- 2021-22: India's exports 2107.24, India's imports 729.08, total trade 2836.32
- 2022-23: India's exports 2094.15, India's imports 959.59, total trade 3053.74
- 2023-24: India's exports 2097.17, India's imports 1,433.60, total trade 3530.77
- 2024-25: India's exports 2162.43, India's imports 1178.40, total trade 3340.83
- 2025-26 (April to February 2026): India's exports 2105.36, India's imports 1445.41, total trade 3550.77
What India sells to the Philippines
The major items of export from India to the Philippines include petroleum products, drugs and pharmaceuticals, vaccines, bovine meat, cereals, oil seeds, frozen potatoes, tobacco and cocoa. Manufactured exports include engineering goods, iron and steel, automobile and aircraft parts and accessories, arms and ammunition, organic and inorganic chemicals and electronic goods. Rice and groundnuts are also listed.
As per trade statistics cited in the brief, Indian pharmaceutical products accounted for 17.90% of the total Philippine pharmaceutical imports in 2025.
What India buys from the Philippines
The major items of import from the Philippines include unwrought gold, pearls and precious stones, copper, aluminium and lead. Other imports are animal and vegetable fat, organic and inorganic chemicals, electrical machinery, semiconductors, hearing aids, ores, slag and ashes, and residue and waste from the food industry.
Towards a trade agreement
During the State Visit of President Marcos to India in August 2025, the leadership of the two countries committed to an exponential increase in bilateral trade from the level attained in 2024-25. The Terms of Reference for negotiations on a bilateral Preferential Trade Agreement were agreed during the same visit.
As of the brief, the Indian side was finalising the composition of its negotiating teams.
Indian investment in the Philippines
Indian investment in the Philippines has mainly been in IT-BPM and ITeS (BPO), pharmaceuticals and healthcare, yarn and textiles, infrastructure (airport), chemicals, automobiles, agriculture, biomass energy and FMCG. Some Indian firms in textiles and infrastructure have since divested, while new Indian investments are seen in IT-BPM, fin-tech and co-work spaces. The brief estimates Indian private sector investment in the Philippines over the last decade and a half at about USD 1 billion.
The brief names the following companies by sector:
- IT-BPM: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, HCL Technologies and HGS
- ITeS: Madras Security Printers, PeopleStrong and Ramco Systems Ltd
- Automobiles: TVS, Bajaj, Mahindra and Tata Motors
- Pharmaceuticals: Lupin, Torrent, ZydusCadilla, Sun pharma, Hetero Drug and Claris Life sciences
- Healthcare: Nephroplus
- FMCG: Splash Corporation (Wipro)
- Agriculture: Prasad seeds, Advanta Seeds, Bioseeds (DCM Group) and Agri Exim
- Biomass energy: Thermax Instrumentation Ltd and ISGEC
- Solar energy: Sun Source Energy
- Chemicals: UPL and RM Chemicals
- Insurance: Shri Ram Group
GMR Group partnered with Megawide to construct a new terminal at Mactan Cebu International Airport, and sold its stake to a Filipino company after the project was completed.
Philippine investment in India
The brief describes Philippine investments in India as modest in the past. They mainly comprise companies such as V. Merida (processing of waste), Ayala's ACEN (renewable energy, construction and ITES), SPI Technologies (ITES), Liwayway (food processing), Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Company (AG&P), and Lloyd Laboratories and IPI (pharma). ACEN has invested in several renewable energy projects in India.
Business events during the 2025 State Visit
President Marcos Jr. was accompanied by a large business delegation from the Philippines. He addressed a Philippines-India CEO Roundtable on 06 August 2025 in New Delhi, and the Philippines-India Business Forum in Bengaluru on 07 August 2025, where he witnessed the signing of 18 business agreements.
Financial technology and digital cooperation
The brief identifies financial technology (fintech) as one of the focus sectors named by the leaders of both countries. An MoU for the constitution of a JWG on Cooperation in Financial Technology was signed on 19 June 2023 to facilitate partnership in digital payments, financial inclusion, fintech and related areas.
The 1st JWG meeting on Fintech was held on 12 September 2024 in New Delhi. As of the brief, the 2nd meeting was proposed for March to May 2026 in Manila. An MOU on Cooperation in the field of digital technologies was also signed on 05 August 2025 during the State Visit.