Greece has been making strategic moves to strengthen relations with India, attract investment and penetrate Greek exports into the huge Indian market over the past four years, as shown by a review of bilateral contacts and exchanges, in view of the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ visit to New Delhi to take part in the India AI Impact Summit 2026.
Cultivating close relations with the most populous democracy, the largest consumer market and one of the fastest growing major economies in the world constitutes a strategic choice with an economic and geopolitical dimension, as government sources emphasized, within the context of a broader effort to upgrade our country’s diplomatic footprint, leveraging both its natural position as a commercial gateway to Europe and the credibility it has gained in relations with many countries in the Middle East and Asia.

The tangible results of the opening to India include the first direct air connection between the two countries, which was inaugurated in January this year, with the Indian airline IndiGo now operating flights between New Delhi and Athens and between Mumbai, India’s financial center, and the Greek capital. Aegean is also scheduled to start flights to India from March, initially to New Delhi and later to Mumbai.

Greece has also launched the opening of two new consulates, in Mumbai and Bangalore, which will support the embassy in New Delhi and the consulate general in Kolkata. In this way, Greece’s diplomatic presence will coincide with the destinations of the air connections and will further facilitate travel, business partnerships and investments between the two countries.

In addition, direct flights are expected to gradually bring significant benefits to tourism, given that the Indian middle class interested in traveling to Europe is constantly growing and is expected to exceed 500 million members in 2030.
The closer Greek-Indian ties are also expanding in the fields of infrastructure projects and investment flows. An indicative example is the partnership between India’s GMR Airports and Greece’s TERNA for the construction of the new international airport in Kastelli, Crete, while many investments on both sides have been made in the pharmaceutical industry.

Movements are also recorded in the IT sector, as large Indian groups already have a presence in Greece, such as Infosys, which focuses on cloud and artificial intelligence services, and i-exceed, which established a subsidiary in Athens for application development.

As for maritime trade, in addition to the fact that Greek ports are natural hubs for transport in the Europe-Asia-Africa triangle, India’s commercial shipping is a customer and partner for Greek shipping services. This relationship can be upgraded in the long term, with the implementation of the planned India-Middle East-Europe trade corridor (IMEC), a project that would have Greece as its natural end and which Athens has supported from the beginning.

Finally, the prospects for increased exports of Greek food products to the large Indian market are considered particularly good, given the significant reduction in tariffs provided for in the trade agreement signed by the EU and India in January. Although the ratification and activation of the agreement is expected to take some time, the benefits will ultimately be significant, especially if the protections for geographical indications are taken into account.

For example, according to information from the European Commission, Indian tariffs on olive oil will be zeroed, compared to the 45% currently in force. The import tax on wines will be gradually reduced to 20% for high-quality wines, compared to the 150% currently applied. Tariffs on fruit juices and sheep and goat meat will fall to 0%, while they currently amount to 55% and 33% respectively.

“There is great interest in closer and mutually beneficial cooperation on many fronts,” said a government official with knowledge of the India strategy. The same source noted that in February 2024, when a Greek business delegation traveled to New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, more than 1,000 business meetings took place.