This article covers cultural and people-to-people links between India and Viet Nam: the Indian cultural centre in Hanoi, scholarships, yoga, the shared Buddhist connection, India's conservation work at the My Son heritage site, travel between the two countries and the Indian community in Viet Nam. It is based on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) bilateral brief of May 2026, with figures as of that brief.

Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre, Hanoi

According to the MEA brief of May 2026, the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre (SVCC) was established in Hanoi under ICCR in September 2016. The Centre organises cultural programmes, seminars, photo exhibitions, film screenings, lectures and workshops.

Its activities cover areas such as yoga, Indian classical dance, Hindi language, art and philosophy, languages, traditional medicine, and shared Buddhist and Cham heritage.

Scholarships and exchanges

India offers Vietnam 48 ICCR slots each year. Currently, about 200 Vietnamese nationals attend ITEC and ICCR training and educational courses in India annually. The two countries also hold regular exchanges between provinces, academic and think-tank institutions, cultural troupes and youth delegations, and recent exchanges have included visits by delegations from various provinces.

Yoga

The brief says yoga is popular in Vietnam, with hundreds of yoga clubs across the country, many of them with Indian yoga teachers. The Vietnam Yoga Federation has representation in numerous provinces. In 2025, the International Day of Yoga was marked in 35 provinces and cities throughout Vietnam, out of a total of 63, with notable public participation.

Buddhism

The brief describes Buddhism as another strong people-level connection, with India widely respected in Vietnam as the origin of Buddhism. This translates into travel for pilgrimage, Buddhist studies in India, invitations to individual monks from India and cooperation with the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.

According to the brief, people-to-people connections between the two countries were rejuvenated in 2025 through an exposition of the Holy Relics of Lord Buddha from Sarnath at nine provinces across Vietnam, between 02 May and 02 June 2025. The Minister for Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju, accompanied the relics from India to Ho Chi Minh City from 02 to 06 May 2025.

Over 14 million devotees paid obeisance to the relics during the month-long exposition, including the then President, Mr. Luong Cuong, Deputy Prime Ministers and numerous other national and provincial leaders. The exposition coincided with the celebration of the UN Day of Vesak hosted by Vietnam from 6-8 May 2025.

Conservation at My Son

India is providing assistance for the conservation and restoration of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of My Son in Quang Nam province of Central Vietnam. The completion and handing over of the A, H and K groups of temples, conserved and restored by the Archaeological Survey of India, was marked in December 2022. The next phase of work, on the E and F blocks, started in February 2025.

Travel between the two countries

The brief estimates that over 850,000 Indians travelled to Vietnam and over 55,000 Vietnamese visited India in the year before it was written.

The Indian community

Nearly 8,000 Indian nationals make up the Indian community in Vietnam, as of the brief. About 5,500 of them are based in and around Ho Chi Minh City, with another couple of thousand living in and around Hanoi.

Most community members are professionals employed in businesses and in sectors such as IT, hotels and restaurants, mining, yoga institutions, civil aviation enterprises, schools, investments and trading in a wide range of goods. The brief names ONGC Videsh Limited, Bank of India, Bharat Electronics Limited and HCL Technologies among the large Indian businesses that have offices in Vietnam.