This article describes the cultural and people-to-people links between India and Serbia: memorials to Indian leaders in Belgrade, commemorations and stamps, yoga and traditional medicine, Indian films shot in Serbia, media cooperation and the Indian community. It draws on the MEA bilateral brief of June 2026.

Interest in Indian culture

According to the MEA brief of June 2026, Serbians have a lot of interest in Indian culture, and in Indian leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore. The Mission has been taking initiatives to expand its cultural activities.

Rabindranath Tagore visited Serbia in 1926 and gave two lectures at Belgrade University. The Embassy proposes to mark the centenary with the University of Belgrade. As part of the India @ 75 celebrations, a talk on Tagore's 1926 visit was held at the University of Belgrade in May 2021.

Streets, busts and memorials

Serbia has two streets named after Mahatma Gandhi and Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, with busts of the two leaders. The streets were named in the 1970s; the bust of Pt. Nehru was installed in the late 1990s and that of Mahatma Gandhi in 2007. A bust of Rabindranath Tagore stands in a park near Brankov's bridge in Belgrade. On arriving for her State Visit in June 2023, President Droupadi Murmu paid floral tributes at the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Belgrade.

Commemorations and stamps

Serbia co-sponsored India's resolutions at the UN declaring October 2 as the International Day of Non-violence and June 21 as the International Day of Yoga.

Serbia marked the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The Government of Serbia hosted Gandhi's granddaughter, Smt Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, in April 2019 and translated her book "Reflection of an Extraordinary Era" into Serbian. Serbia Post released a commemorative stamp on Mahatma Gandhi, the City of Belgrade co-organised tree planting and cycling events, and twelve Serbian schools hosted the Ambassador for a talk on Gandhiji. The Embassy, with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), organised a Bharatnatyam performance in Belgrade on 5 August 2019.

Several stamps mark the relationship itself:

  • On the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations, during the Vice President's visit in September 2018, Serbia Post and India's Department of Post jointly released stamps on the Serbian scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla and on Swami Vivekananda.
  • For 75 years of India's independence, Serbian Post released a stamp on "Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav" in Belgrade on 27 December 2022, in the presence of the former Ambassador of India Mr. Sanjiv Kohli and First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mr. Ivica Dacic.
  • For the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, the Serbian Foreign Ministry and Serbia Post jointly issued a jubilee stamp in December 2023 showing the Victor monument in Belgrade and the Statue of Unity in India.

Language and learning

The Embassy launched the Sanskrit learning app "Little Guru" in April 2021. In his monthly address (Mann ki Baat) on 26.12.2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Serbian author Dr. Momir Nikic, who has written a Sanskrit-Serbian dictionary.

Yoga and traditional medicine

Yoga, Ayurveda and Homeopathy are recognised in Serbian law. The International Day of Yoga is celebrated every year in the major cities of Serbia. The 11th International Day of Yoga was held under the Victor Monument at the Kalemegdan Fortress in Belgrade, overlooking the confluence of the Danube and Sava, with help from the Vidya Yoga Foundation, Mohanji Peace Centre and Isha Foundation.

Cultural agreements

  • MoU on Cooperation in Culture, Arts, Youth, Sports and Mass Media (2018), described in the brief as a new comprehensive agreement signed during the visit of First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic to India in May 2018
  • Cultural Exchange Program, signed in October 2021 during the visit of MOS for External Affairs Mrs. Meenakashi Lekhi

The Indian community

The Indian community in Serbia is small, numbering around 10,000, and the brief notes that there is no Indian association.

During her State Visit in June 2023, President Murmu met the Indian community and friends of India. In her address she highlighted the emergence of India as an economic power and the opportunities it offers, and called on them to contribute positively towards strengthening the India-Serbia relationship. External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar also met members of the Indian community and Friends of India in Serbia, described in the brief as Serbians with strong business and cultural links with India, during his visit in November 2019.