Bharat–Georgia
Ajanta mural of the Bodhisattva Padmapani holding a lotus
Padmapani, Ajanta Cave 1, late 5th century.
भारत·საქართველო

Two stories, shared interests

An Indian prince is a hero of Georgia's national epic. A Georgian queen's relics lay in Goa for nearly four centuries. India and Georgia read the war in Ukraine differently, and a partnership between them is stronger for saying so plainly. Beneath that difference lie a shared commitment to sovereignty and interests that fit together.

October 2026 · Prepared by Gagan Garg

Gold mosaic of the Archangel Michael
Archangel Michael, Gelati Monastery, Kutaisi, about 1125–1130.
Threads across fifteen centuries

The two cultures met long before the two states did

Georgia knows India better than India knows Georgia. The connection runs through an epic, a book of fables, a martyred queen, and two golden ages that shared a century.

Tavakalashvili manuscript, 1646, National Centre of Manuscripts, Tbilisi.
ვეფხისტყაოსანი

An Indian prince in Georgia's national epic

Shota Rustaveli wrote The Knight in the Panther's Skin around 1200, in the golden age of Queen Tamar. Its hero Tariel is a prince of India who loses his beloved Nestan-Darejan and wanders the world in a panther's skin until friends from Arabia help him win her back. Georgian children learn its verses by heart; for eight centuries, the most famous Indian in Georgia has been a character in its greatest poem.

Dhanu, Solomon Takes Advice from the Animals, Mughal, about 1595.
पञ्चतन्त्र → ქილილა და დამანა

A book of fables that walked across Asia

The Panchatantra, India's book of animal fables on statecraft, was carried into Middle Persian in the sixth century and into Arabic as Kalila wa Dimna. Its Persian retelling, the Anvar-i Suhayli, was painted for the Mughal court. In the early eighteenth century King Vakhtang VI and Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani brought it into Georgian as Kilila da Damana, and Indian tales entered Georgian folklore.

Sanskrit→Middle Persian→Arabic→Persian→Georgian
Stone inscription in the Asomtavruli Georgian script around a carved cross
Asomtavruli inscription, Bolnisi Sioni cathedral, 493–494.
अजन्ता · ბოლნისი

The same decades, two classical ages

In the late fifth century, painters at Ajanta were finishing the murals of Cave 1, among them the Padmapani above. In the same years, masons at Bolnisi cut one of the oldest dated inscriptions in the Georgian alphabet. Six centuries later, the mosaics of Gelati marked Georgia's golden age, the age of Rustaveli and Queen Tamar.

Geography

Three routes from India to Georgia's Black Sea coast

Georgia sits where the Middle Corridor from Central Asia reaches the Black Sea, and where a north–south route from the Persian Gulf could end. For India it is a door to Europe that does not run through Pakistan.

KazakhstanUzbekistanIndonesiaDem. Rep. CongoSomaliaKenyaSudanChadRussiaCameroonCentral African Rep.CongoIsraelLebanonPalestineJordanUnited Arab EmiratesQatarKuwaitIraqOmanMyanmarMongoliaIndiaBangladeshBhutanNepalPakistanAfghanistanTajikistanKyrgyzstanTurkmenistanIranSyriaArmeniaBelarusUkrainePolandAustriaHungaryMoldovaRomaniaBulgariaGreeceTurkeyAlbaniaCroatiaSri LankaChinaItalyAzerbaijanGeorgiaSloveniaSlovakiaCzechiaEritreaYemenSaudi ArabiaN. CyprusCyprusEgyptLibyaEthiopiaDjiboutiSomalilandUgandaBosnia and Herz.North MacedoniaSerbiaMontenegroKosovoS. Sudan DelhiMumbaiBandar AbbasTehran TbilisiPotiBakuIstanbul SuezYerevan INDIAGEORGIA ← to Europeto Central Asia → Black SeaCaspianArabian Sea Red Sea
Sea route via Suez and the Bosporus Gulf–Black Sea route via Iran and Armenia (proposed) Middle Corridor Delhi–Tbilisi flight (suspended)

Routes are schematic. India shown with the boundary as officially depicted by the Government of India; Crimea shown as Ukraine.

3,260 kmDelhi to Tbilisi, great-circle distance. The daily IndiGo service, running since August 2024, is suspended during the Middle East crisis.
~8,200 kmMumbai to Poti by sea through Suez, the Dardanelles and the Bosporus (schematic path).
~4,200 kmMumbai to Poti by sea to Bandar Abbas, then overland through Iran, Armenia and Georgia (schematic path).
47×India's land area is about 47 times Georgia's: 3.29 million km² against 69,700 km².
Abkhazia, Russian-occupied TbilisiKutaisiPoti BatumiAnakliaYerevanBaku Abkhaziaoccupied since 2008 Tskhinvali regionoccupied since 2008 Black SeaRUSSIATÜRKİYE ARMENIAAZERB.

About a fifth of Georgia's territory is under Russian occupation. India has never recognised Abkhazia or the Tskhinvali region as states.

Georgia India 500 km

India and Georgia drawn at the same scale.

Figures

A relationship that runs on people more than on trade

Trade is modest and tilted towards India. The weight of the relationship lies in students, visitors and investment.

$432mBilateral trade, FY2025-26MEA, from DGCI&S
$770mIndian investment in Georgia, approximateMEA
25,000Indian students, mostly in medicineMEA estimate
140,000Indian visitors to Georgia last yearMEA

India's exports doubled in four years; imports from Georgia fell by more than half

US$ million, Indian fiscal years. India → Georgia Georgia → India Total above each bar.

FY2021-22: India to Georgia US$163.9mFY2021-22: Georgia to India US$196.6m164361FY2021-22FY2022-23: India to Georgia US$265.3mFY2022-23: Georgia to India US$167.0m265432FY2022-23FY2023-24: India to Georgia US$197.5mFY2023-24: Georgia to India US$101.0m197298FY2023-24FY2024-25: India to Georgia US$289.0mFY2024-25: Georgia to India US$74.7m289364FY2024-25FY2025-26: India to Georgia US$345.2mFY2025-26: Georgia to India US$87.0m345432FY2025-26

Source: MEA India–Georgia Bilateral Brief, July 2026 (DGCI&S, DGFT). Georgian statistics for calendar 2024: exports to India about $29m, imports from India about $104m.

India sells Georgia

  • Medicines (largest, ~$28m in 2024)
  • Vehicle parts
  • Machinery
  • Electrical equipment
  • Plastics, meat, tobacco

Georgia sells India

  • Fertilisers (~$22m in 2024)
  • Inorganic chemicals
  • Precious-metal compounds
  • Copper, lead
Tata Power, JSW, KECIndian investors include Tata Power in the 187 MW Shuakhevi hydropower plant, JSW through Geo Steel, KEC International and Hindustan Silichem.
2019Year the FTA feasibility study was completed. Negotiations have not opened.
Economies

A young giant and an ageing, richer small nation

India has 372 people for every Georgian. A Georgian earns 3.6 times as much as an Indian at market exchange rates. Their age structures, incomes and sectors point to where each can supply what the other lacks.

Two age pyramids

Share of total population by five-year age band, 2025. Same scale for both.

India · median age 30
MenWomenIndia, men 80+: 0.9% of populationIndia, women 80+: 1.3% of population80+India, men 75–79: 1.1% of populationIndia, women 75–79: 1.4% of populationIndia, men 70–74: 2.0% of populationIndia, women 70–74: 2.3% of population70–74India, men 65–69: 2.8% of populationIndia, women 65–69: 3.1% of populationIndia, men 60–64: 3.6% of populationIndia, women 60–64: 3.8% of population60–64India, men 55–59: 4.4% of populationIndia, women 55–59: 4.6% of populationIndia, men 50–54: 5.2% of populationIndia, women 50–54: 5.3% of population50–54India, men 45–49: 6.0% of populationIndia, women 45–49: 6.1% of populationIndia, men 40–44: 7.0% of populationIndia, women 40–44: 6.9% of population40–44India, men 35–39: 7.8% of populationIndia, women 35–39: 7.7% of populationIndia, men 30–34: 8.3% of populationIndia, women 30–34: 8.1% of population30–34India, men 25–29: 8.7% of populationIndia, women 25–29: 8.4% of populationIndia, men 20–24: 9.0% of populationIndia, women 20–24: 8.7% of population20–24India, men 15–19: 8.8% of populationIndia, women 15–19: 8.5% of populationIndia, men 10–14: 8.5% of populationIndia, women 10–14: 8.3% of population10–14India, men 5–9: 8.1% of populationIndia, women 5–9: 8.0% of populationIndia, men 0–4: 7.8% of populationIndia, women 0–4: 7.7% of population0–40%2%2%4%4%
Georgia · median age 38
MenWomenGeorgia, men 80+: 1.7% of populationGeorgia, women 80+: 4.7% of population80+Georgia, men 75–79: 2.1% of populationGeorgia, women 75–79: 3.5% of populationGeorgia, men 70–74: 3.5% of populationGeorgia, women 70–74: 5.1% of population70–74Georgia, men 65–69: 4.8% of populationGeorgia, women 65–69: 6.2% of populationGeorgia, men 60–64: 5.6% of populationGeorgia, women 60–64: 6.8% of population60–64Georgia, men 55–59: 5.5% of populationGeorgia, women 55–59: 6.0% of populationGeorgia, men 50–54: 5.9% of populationGeorgia, women 50–54: 6.1% of population50–54Georgia, men 45–49: 6.4% of populationGeorgia, women 45–49: 6.3% of populationGeorgia, men 40–44: 7.2% of populationGeorgia, women 40–44: 6.8% of population40–44Georgia, men 35–39: 7.9% of populationGeorgia, women 35–39: 7.2% of populationGeorgia, men 30–34: 7.2% of populationGeorgia, women 30–34: 6.4% of population30–34Georgia, men 25–29: 6.4% of populationGeorgia, women 25–29: 5.3% of populationGeorgia, men 20–24: 6.1% of populationGeorgia, women 20–24: 5.0% of population20–24Georgia, men 15–19: 7.0% of populationGeorgia, women 15–19: 5.9% of populationGeorgia, men 10–14: 8.2% of populationGeorgia, women 10–14: 6.7% of population10–14Georgia, men 5–9: 8.0% of populationGeorgia, women 5–9: 6.5% of populationGeorgia, men 0–4: 6.5% of populationGeorgia, women 0–4: 5.4% of population0–40%2%2%4%4%
IndiaGeorgia
Population1.46 bn3.94 m
Under 1524.2%20.5%
Aged 65 and over7.4%16.0%
Old-age dependency (65+ per 100 aged 15–64)1125
Life expectancy72.274.7
Births per woman1.961.80
Urban36%61%

Georgia carries more than twice India's share of people over 65. Its demand for health care, medicines and care workers will rise; India has the young workforce, the generic medicines and, increasingly, doctors trained in Georgia itself.

Income per person, 2025

GDP per capita, current US$, at market rates and at purchasing-power parity.

Market rates
India $2,702
Georgia $9,692
Purchasing power
India $11,748
Georgia $29,414

A Georgian is 3.6 times richer at market rates and 2.5 times richer in purchasing power. India's economy is $3.96 tn against Georgia's $38.1 bn; both grew about 7.6% and 7.5% in 2025.

Where output and jobs sit

Share of GDP and of employment. Agriculture Industry Services

India Output
16%25%49%
India Jobs
42%26%33%
Georgia Output
5%19%64%
Georgia Jobs
34%17%49%

In Georgia 34% of workers produce 5% of output on the land; in India 42% produce 16%. Both farm sectors hold large, low-productivity workforces, which makes agriculture the first place to cooperate, not the last.

From Georgia to India: agriculture and minerals

Each line sets Georgia's capacity (its exports to the world) against India's demand (its imports from the world), with what already moves between them. Only where both bars are long and the third column is short is there an opening.

Strategic supply

Fertiliser: India's need, Georgia's route

India produced 46.5 million tonnes of fertiliser in 2024–25 against demand of 64.9 million, and imported 16 million tonnes to close the gap. About 70% of its urea imports come from Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, and Saudi Arabia alone supplies over 40% of its DAP. Much of that passes through the Strait of Hormuz, now effectively closed; IFFCO estimates that 30–40% of India's nitrogen supply moves through it.

Georgian nitrogen does not. Ammonium nitrate from Rustavi Azot reaches India from the Black Sea through the Bosporus and Suez, outside the Gulf entirely. India is already Georgia's second-largest buyer after Peru, and Georgia already supplies about 26% of India's ammonium nitrate imports.

The opening: a multi-year offtake agreement between Indian fertiliser and explosives buyers and Georgia's producer, priced as resilience, not only as tonnage. The Red Sea leg carries its own risk, but a second sea lane is the point.

India's fertiliser demand, 2024–25
64.9 Mt
Domestic production
46.5 Mt
Imports
16.0 Mt
~70%of urea imports from four Gulf states
30–40%of India's nitrogen supply through Hormuz (IFFCO)
2ndIndia's rank among buyers of Georgian nitrogen fertiliser, 2024

Down To Earth, "Forever dependent on fertiliser", April 2026; UN Comtrade 2024.

ProductGeorgia exports to world India imports from worldGeorgia → India nowReading
Minerals and fertilisers
Nitrogen fertilisers (ammonium nitrate)HS 3102.30
$117m
$164m
$43m
Flowing: scale up

Georgia already supplies about a quarter of India's ammonium nitrate imports. It also serves mining explosives.

Precious-metal ores and concentratesHS 2616
$238m
$109m
–
Fit

Now mostly Georgian-mined (RMG Gold): imports for re-export fell to $17m in 2024 while exports reached $237m, to China and Bulgaria. India's refiners are an untried buyer.

Agriculture, food and drink
WineHS 2204.21
$271m
$14m
–
Fit, tariff barrier

India's 150% basic duty keeps the market small, and EU wine is set to gain preference under the India–EU FTA.

BrandyHS 2208.20
$247m
$22m
–
Fit, tariff barrier

Georgian brandy is a premium niche; India's wider spirits imports run to $562m.

Mineral water (Borjomi, Nabeglavi)HS 2201
$164m
$4.4m
<$0.1m
Niche

A premium hospitality product; India's imports are small today.

HazelnutsHS 0802.21–22
$101m
$2.6m
<$0.1m
Build demand

Georgia is one of the world's leading hazelnut exporters, but India buys only $2.6m; its confectionery makers are the demand to build.

Citrus (mandarins)HS 0805
$35m
$87m
–
Needs a plant-health protocol

Fresh fruit needs an agreed phytosanitary protocol before it can move.

Other fresh fruitHS 0810
$38m
$135m
<$0.1m
Needs a plant-health protocol

As above; berries and kiwi are the candidates.

Why copper fell, and why it is not on this list

Georgia's copper exports were mostly a blending and transit trade, not Georgian mining. In 2022 Georgia imported $775m of copper concentrate, from Armenia ($403m), Chile, Indonesia, Serbia and Brazil, and shipped $1,024m on to China ($583m) and Bulgaria ($401m). When those inflows dried up, exports followed. Georgia's own copper mine at Madneuli (RMG Copper) is small; in 2018 its copper sales were 35.8 million lari, against more than half a billion dollars of copper exports, most of them re-exports.

ExportsImports
2022
$1,024m
$775m
2023
$479m
$237m
2024
$94m
$72m

Georgia, copper ores and concentrates (HS 2603). UN Comtrade; FactCheck Georgia, April 2024; Forbes Georgia, January 2020.

UN Comtrade, 2024: Georgia's reported exports, India's reported imports; the "now" column takes the larger of the two countries' reports of their mutual trade. Bars on a logarithmic scale. Ammonium nitrate: India's imports from Georgia equal about 26% of its ammonium nitrate imports.

Primary

Land and mine

  • Scale up ammonium nitrate on long-term supply contracts with Indian fertiliser and explosives buyers.
  • Route Georgian gold and precious-metal concentrates to Indian refiners.
  • Sell hazelnuts to India's chocolate and confectionery makers.
  • Win wine, brandy and Borjomi a tariff path in an FTA before EU wine gains preference.
  • Agree a plant-health protocol for mandarins and fresh fruit.
  • Bring Indian farm technology: drip irrigation, seed and the digital farm stack, to Georgia's 34% farm workforce.
Secondary

Factory and plant

  • Indian pharmaceutical packaging and distribution in Georgia's free zones, serving the South Caucasus.
  • Indian investment in food processing: hazelnut processing, wineries, juice and bottling, with output aimed at India.
  • Hydropower and transmission, building on Tata Power at Shuakhevi.
Tertiary

People and services

  • Medical education under a joint recognition compact.
  • Health care for an ageing Georgia: Indian hospital chains, nurses and diagnostics.
  • Tourism, weddings and film, with flights restored.
  • Indian IT delivery centres in Tbilisi serving European clients.
Niko Pirosmani painting of a laid-out feast: fish, meat, bread, wine and skewers on a black ground
Niko Pirosmani, Still Life: the Georgian table. Pirosmani also painted Hunting in India.
A shared code of hospitality
სტუმარი ღვთისაა"A guest is from God." Georgian saying, the spirit of the supra.
अतिथिदेवो भव"Let the guest be as a god to you." Taittiriya Upanishad.

About 140,000 Indian visitors and some 25,000 Indian students now meet that hospitality each year.

Two stories

Each country's foreign policy is the sum of what it has survived

Georgia reads Russia through 1801, 1921 and 2008. India reads Russia through 1971. The gold rows are the moments the two stories meet.

GeorgiaIndia
Queen Ketevan of Kakheti martyred in Shiraz; part of her relics reach Goa1624
Treaty of Georgievsk: Russian protection1783
Russia annexes the kingdom1801
Red Army ends the first republic1921
1947Independence and partition
1971Treaty with the USSR; Bangladesh war; US Seventh Fleet in the Bay of Bengal
Soviet troops kill protesters on Rustaveli Avenue, 9 April1989
Georgia regains independence; India recognises it in December1991
Ketevan's relics identified in the ruins of St. Augustine's, Goa2005
War with Russia; occupation of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region2008
Georgia opens its Embassy in New Delhi2009
Relics returned to Georgia by Dr S. Jaishankar2021
Ukraine seen through 20082022"Today's era is not of war": strategic autonomy
Indian mission in Tbilisi opens (July)2024
First resident Indian Ambassador in Tbilisi (March)2026
Synergies

Different needs that fit together

Three principles both countries hold, five places where their needs meet, and three differences that are named rather than hidden.

Shared principle

Territorial integrity

India has never recognised Abkhazia or the Tskhinvali region. Its own frontiers make sovereignty a first principle.

Shared principle

No spheres of influence

Georgia rejects being Russia's "near abroad". India rejects being drafted into any camp. A nation's alignments are its own to choose.

Shared memory

Queen Ketevan

Georgia asked; India searched for decades, verified the relics by DNA and returned them. A symbol of dignity under coercion.

Georgia needsWhere they meetIndia needs
Voices beyond the West for its territorial integrity
DiplomacyA public Indian line on Georgia's territorial integrity
Partners who accept strategic autonomy
Investment and markets without political conditions
EconomyAn FTA; Georgia as a near-Europe base as the India–EU FTA takes effect
Markets for medicines, machinery and services
Cargo that makes Poti and the Middle Corridor viable
ConnectivityIndian cargo through the Black Sea
A route to Europe and Central Asia that avoids Pakistan
Students, visitors and their spending
PeopleA medical-education compact; flights restored
Affordable medical education; new destinations
Affordable, reliable medicines
HealthA corridor between the two drug regulators
Regulated export markets for Indian generics
Difference

Russia and Ukraine

Georgia sees 2008 in Ukraine. India sees decades of Russian support and Western double standards.

How to hold it: India's ties with Russia are not directed against Georgia; Georgia's ties with Europe are not directed against India.

Difference

Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Armenia

Ankara and Baku backed Pakistan in May 2025; India arms Armenia. Georgia's pipelines and railway run through Azerbaijan and Türkiye.

How to hold it: India seeks a Georgia open to India, never one closed to its neighbours.

Difference

China

Georgia signed a strategic partnership with China in 2023; a Chinese consortium was chosen for Anaklia port in 2024.

How to hold it: India offers a better alternative instead of asking Georgia to refuse Chinese capital.

Instruments

Six ways to carry the relationship

None of them asks either country to change its position on Russia.

A dialogue of understanding

An annual track-two dialogue on the hard subjects; translations; a renewed cultural agreement.

Both

A signal on sovereignty

A joint statement on territorial integrity; an Indian explanation of vote at the UN.

Georgia

IGC and FTA talks

Reconvene the Inter-Governmental Commission, idle since 2017, and open negotiations in 2027.

Both

A pharmaceutical corridor

Fast-track registration for GMP-certified Indian plants; regional distribution from Georgia's free zones.

GeorgiaIndia

A medical-education compact

One jointly published list of programmes that meet India's rules for foreign medical graduates.

GeorgiaIndia

Black Sea links

A pilot container service to Poti; flights restored; a tourism and film programme.

IndiaGeorgia
Queen Ketevan · ქეთევან წამებული

Between Kakheti and Goa

Nineteenth-century print of Saint Ketevan the Martyr, crowned, standing on a cloud
St Ketevan the Martyr, Mikhail Sabinin, about 1882.
A small nation remembered and asked. A large one listened, searched for decades, and gave back a symbol of dignity under coercion.
  1. 1624Queen Ketevan of Kakheti is killed in Shiraz on the orders of Shah Abbas I after refusing to renounce her faith.
  2. 1627Portuguese Augustinian friars carry part of her relics to their church in Old Goa.
  3. 1980sGeorgian historians and the Georgian Church ask India to search for them.
  4. 2005Indian and Georgian researchers identify the remains in the church ruins from Portuguese records.
  5. 2014DNA analysis in Hyderabad finds a maternal lineage rare in India and present in Georgia.
  6. 2017The relics travel to Georgia for six months; crowds come to venerate them.
  7. 2021Dr S. Jaishankar hands over a part of the relics in Tbilisi.
The ruined bell tower of St Augustine's church in Old Goa
Old Goa. The tower of St Augustine's, where the relics lay.
Alaverdi Monastery in Kakheti with its tall cathedral and walls
Alaverdi, Kakheti. Where part of the relics was laid to rest in Georgia.