Sweden-India Relations

This year the Indian External Affair Minister attended the EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum (EIPMF) held in Stockholm. In 2022, there have been four ministerial interactions- JCSEIC chaired by HCIM Piyush Goyal and Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Foreign Ministers (Munich in Feb 2022); Environment Ministers (Nairobi in March 2022); Aviation & Infrastructure Ministers (Virtual in March 2022) 

Heads of State of all Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland) interacted with Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi.

A high-level bilateral discussion was held on April 25, 2022, between Hon’ble CIM Shri Piyush Goyal and Ms. Anna Hallberg, Swedish Minister of Foreign Trade and Nordic Affairs. Discussions surrounded the ongoing situation between Russia-Ukraine, the upcoming Joint Commission for Economic, Industrial and Scientific Cooperation (JCEC) and India Sweden Business Leader Roundtable (ISBLRT), EU-FTA negotiations, Indo-Nordic Patent Prosecution Highways, MoU on Civil Aviation, India’s 75th Independence Day celebrations, and a roadmap for the next 25 years as both countries approach 100 years of Independence.   

Joint funding call on Circular Economy: The Intsam group (Vinnova, Swedish Research Council, Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Forte) and India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) have come together for a new joint call on circular economy to drive cross-sectoral research on circular economy. The call was announced in 2021 by Minister Dr Jitendra Singh at the India-Sweden Innovation Day. The joint call is planned to open on 3 May.   

Letter of Agreement between STINT and Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB, an autonomous body of DST) on researcher mobility exchange has been signed.  

India-Sweden joint global initiative to set up a Leadership Group on Industry Transition (LeadIT) in September 2019 at the UN Climate Action Summit to help guide the world’s heaviest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting industries towards the low-carbon economy. Its membership has now grown to 35 with 16 countries and 19 companies.

Sweden is the 22nd largest investor in India, with cumulative FDI inflows of $2.26Bn during April 2000-March 2023. The sectors attracting the most FDI from Sweden are Automobile, Industrial Machinery, Engineering, Electrical Equipments and Metallurgical Industries.  

Bilateral trade between the two countries has been growing steadily and reached $2.6Bn $ in 2021.

India-Sweden trade overview: Bilateral trade between India and Sweden has increased by 8% since 2022-23. Total trade is $2.6Bn.

• Exports to Sweden (2022-23): $0.96Bn
• Imports from Sweden(2022-23): $1.72Bn 

Top 5 exports to Sweden are:

• Nuclear Reactors and Machinery
• Apparel and Clothing Accessories
• Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway tolling stock
• Machinery and Electrical Appliances
• Textiles. 

Top 5 imports from Sweden are:

• Iron and Steel 
• Nuclear Reactors and Parts
• Wood and Paper Pulp
• Machinery and Electricals
• Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway stops. 

There are over 250+ Swedish companies operating in India, creating indirect employment of 1.2Mn people in India. This is testament to the strength of Indo-Sweden Association. 

India is Sweden’s 19th largest export market and third largest trade partner after China and Japan in Asia. The main items of Indian exports are garments, textiles, chemical products, food products, and semi manufactured and manufactured goods. 

Business Survey Report:  

• 190 Swedish companies in India participated in the survey 
• Companies are more positive now than in 2019 or 2020.  
• 8 out of 10 companies foresee increased turnover in the coming 12 months 
• 1 out of 2 companies indicate growing investment plans this year 
• 3 out of 10 companies consider India to be competitive/ very competitive in global value chains 
• 60 companies manufacture in India 
• 3 out of 4 companies produce for domestic & export markets 
• 7 out of 10 are positive to the ambition of Aatmanirbhar Bharat (Make in India 2.0) programme 

The Indian Diaspora in Sweden is estimated to be over 60,000 that includes around 42,000 Indian nationals. Most of them are professionals, predominantly in IT sector. There is a large number of Indian researchers and students in Sweden. There are an estimated 1500 Indian students in Sweden. So far, around 18,000 Swedish nationals have been issued OCI cards. There are a number of Indian Cultural Associations in Sweden based in Stockholm, Gothenberg, Uppsala, Lund, and Umeå, among others.  

Indian classical arts, especially music and dance, are widely appreciated in Sweden. Yoga (and also Ayurveda) are popular among the Swedes. International Yoga day 2023 was celebrated in Stockholm, Linkoping, Vastras and Riga. Officials from Sweden attended the Yoga Utsav in India. A day long Ayurveda Seminar was organised in Feb 2022 where around 70 Ayurveda practitioners from Sweden joined. Around 20,000 Swedish tourists are estimated to have visited India in 2019.

There are ongoing research linkages between academic institutions and universities between India and Sweden. Some of these include KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Karlstad University, Uppsala University, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Linkoping University on the Swedish side and IIT Chennai, IIT Guwahati, Vellore Institute of Technology, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar and BHU Varanasi. 

Academic Chairs on Indian studies have been established in the past at prominent Swedish Universities – Lund, Gothenburg and Uppsala. 

A popular annual cultural event ‘Namaste Stockholm’ is supported by the Embassy of India. It is estimated that the event attracts around 15,000-20,000 visitors. The event exposes Indian culture to Swedish people through dance performances, music, food, and culture from India. 

Indian Women Football team visited Sweden in Oct 2021 to play friendly matches with Swedish teams. The Indian team has a Swedish coach.