This article covers the economic relationship between India and Viet Nam and their wider cooperation: bilateral trade and investment, the development partnership, disaster relief, defence, and cooperation in space, information technology and atomic energy. It is based on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) bilateral brief of May 2026, and figures are given for the periods the brief states.

Bilateral trade in 2025-2026

According to the MEA brief of May 2026, India-Vietnam bilateral trade reached USD 16.4 billion in 2025-2026. India's exports to Vietnam in that year were approximately USD 6.1 billion, while Vietnam's exports to India were approximately USD 10.3 billion.

The brief lists the main goods in each direction:

  • Indian exports to Vietnam: engineering goods (automobile parts, iron and steel, machinery and equipment), agricultural items (maize, animal feed ingredients, bovine meat, cotton), marine products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and minerals.
  • Indian imports from Vietnam: electrical and electronic equipment, machinery and mechanical appliances, inorganic chemicals, plastic, copper and rubber, coffee and tea, spices, iron and steel articles, footwear and garments.

The two countries also see regular exchanges of business delegations to each other's markets.

Trade mechanisms and agreements

The India-Vietnam Joint Sub-Commission on Trade held its 5th meeting in New Delhi in August 2023. The brief also refers to several Joint Working Groups (JWG) intended to enhance the trade relationship, including JWGs on Agriculture, Health and Information Technology.

At the regional level, the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) of 2009 is, as of the brief, under review among ASEAN countries and India. Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade addressed the Commerce Ministers session of the 3rd Voice of Global South Summit in August 2024.

Investment in both directions

The brief states that Vietnam ranks 60th in FDI equity inflow into India during 2000-2025, with an FDI equity inflow of approximately USD 87 million. Vietnamese investment has gone into sectors such as the automobile industry, air transport (including air freight), computer software and hardware, and electrical equipment. Recently, the Vietnamese car manufacturer VinFast announced the setting up of an EV manufacturing plant at SIPCOT Industrial Estate in Thoothikudi, Tamil Nadu.

The major sectors of Indian investment in Vietnam are energy, mineral processing, agri-processing (coffee, tea, sugar), agrochemicals, IT and auto components. Bank of India has operated a branch in Ho Chi Minh City since 2017. Prominent Indian companies with investments in Vietnam include HCL Technologies, Tata Coffee, Wipro Personal care, Marico SE Asia, Godrej, KCP Sugar and United Phosphorus Limited, along with several medium-sized companies and numerous trading enterprises.

Development partnership

The brief says India has a long-standing development partnership with Vietnam that has "made positive contributions towards training, capacity building, economic development and industrial growth". It adds that, with Vietnam's economic progress, the partnership has adapted towards sharing of best practices and experiences, technical training, defence capacity building and heritage conservation.

India offers Vietnam 130 civilian ITEC slots annually for training and capacity building in India.

Vietnam is also a partner country within the ASEAN framework and the Mekong Ganga Cooperation mechanism, under which India supports training and Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) for local communities. Since 2017, 56 QIPs have been completed in 32 out of Vietnam's total 34 provinces, and another 10 are under implementation.

Disaster relief

In September 2024, in view of the devastation caused by Typhoon Yagi, the Government of India delivered 35 tons of emergency relief supplies to the Government of Vietnam under Operation Sadbhav.

Defence partnership

The brief describes defence and security cooperation as one of the central pillars of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. It is guided by the MoU on Defence Cooperation of 2009 and the Joint Vision on Defence Cooperation of 2015. In June 2022, during the visit of Raksha Mantri to Vietnam, where he held a meeting on bilateral issues with his counterpart, the two sides agreed a "Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030".

During the Official Visit of the then Minister of National Defence of Vietnam, General Phan Van Giang, in June 2023, India announced the gifting of the indigenously built missile corvette INS Kirpan to Vietnam. It was handed over in July 2023 during the Official Visit to Vietnam of the Chief of Navy Staff, Admiral R. Hari Kumar.

The Annual Defence Policy Dialogue (DPD) held its 15th meeting in November 2025 in Hanoi, and the 4th meeting of the India-Vietnam Maritime Security Dialogue was held in August 2024 in Hanoi.

Training and military exchanges

The brief says defence engagement has diversified into wider military-to-military dialogue and capacity building and training across all arms of the forces. Indian Training Teams stationed in Vietnam include:

  • The Indian Air Force Training Team at Vietnam Air Force Officers College, Nha Trang, for pilot training since 2018
  • The Indian Army Training Team at Tele Communications University, Nha Trang, for telecommunications training since 2016
  • The Indian Navy Training Team at Vietnam Naval Academy, Nha Trang, for English and IT training since 2008

Other elements are regular bilateral exercises such as the army-to-army Ex VINBAX, visits by Indian naval ships and aircraft, an annual Young Officers' Exchange and about 40 defence training slots in India offered to Vietnam each year. In 2014-2015, India trained more than 350 Vietnamese submarine crew in India.

Defence industry, credit lines and grants

In June 2022, 12 high speed guard boats built by the Indian manufacturer M/s Larsen & Toubro under a bilateral credit line of USD 100 million were handed over to Vietnam under the Lines of Credit agreement. Two more Lines of Credit, of USD 120 million and USD 180 million, were exchanged between the EXIM Bank of India and the Finance Ministry of Vietnam on 01 August 2024, during the Vietnamese Prime Minister's visit to India, and are under implementation.

The Army Software Park (ASP) at Telecommunications University, Nha Trang, was set up under a USD 5 million grant of the Government of India and was virtually inaugurated by the two Prime Ministers during the same visit. Other projects are a foreign language training lab at the Air Force Officers' College, Nha Trang, and the gifting of training aids to Telecommunications University, Nha Trang. Vietnam also regularly takes part in India-led events such as editions of AeroIndia.

Space, information technology and atomic energy

A framework agreement on space cooperation was entered into in July 2018. Apart from technical training courses in India and occasional exchanges with ISRO, the two countries are working on setting up an ASEAN-India Satellite Tracking and Data Reception and Processing Facility, located in Ho Chi Minh City.

An MoU on cooperation in IT was signed during the Indian Prime Minister's visit to Vietnam in September 2016. Three sessions of the Joint Working Group on IT have been held under it, the last one online in July 2021. In January 2026 the two sides held the inaugural Cyber Policy Dialogue in Hanoi.

An Agreement on Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy was signed in December 2016 in New Delhi.