Cheers ..to Chile....

Cheers to Chile...

Chilean President Gabriel Boric is in New Delhi today with a large business delegation. His focus is trade and investment.

Some Indians might think that Chile is a small market of 20 million people and it is too far from India.

But Chile is more important for India's exports than some of our neighbouring countries. 

In 2023-24 (April-March) India exported 1.2 billion dollars of goods to Chile. This is more than India’s exports to neighbouring countries such as Cambodia - 185 million dollars, Kazakhstan - 237 m or Myanmar - 670 m.

Main exports are vehicles, pharmaceuticals, equipments and machinery, textiles and chemicals.

The largest EPC contract won by an Indian company in Latin America is not in Brazil or Mexico but in the little Chile. Kalpataru Projects International from Mumbai has secured a 431 million dollar EPC project for building a power transmission line in Chile. This is the single largest project contract of any Indian company in Latin America.

Chile has a unique programme called as "Start-up Chile" inviting foreign start ups to establish centres in Santiago. The Chileans give  40,000 dollars besides other incentives and benefits. Dozens of Indian start-up entrepreneurs have taken advantage of this, Every year there are some Indian start ups setting up their innovation centres in Santiago.  

Falabella, the Chilean retail chain store has a Technology Development centre in Bengaluru employing 250 Indian IT staff. They also have an office in India to procure textiles and other goods for their stores in Latin America.

Chile is the largest Latin American supplier of fresh fruits to India. These are: apples, cherries, pears, grapes, blueberries, plums, mandarins, kiwifruits as well as walnuts.

India and Chile have signed a PTA (Preferential Trade Agreement) under which Chile offers duty concessions on 1798 Indian producs with Margin of Preference (MoP) ranging from 30%-100%. India gives concessions to 1031 Chilean products with MoP ranging from 10%-100%. In any case, Chile has one of the lowest average customs duties (6%) in Latin America.
How important is India for Chile?

India is the 6th largest export market for Chile. This means they export more to India than to Germany, France, UK or Spain. 

In 2024, Chile exported to India 2.55 billion dollars of goods. Major exports: Copper concentrate-1.6 billion dollars, Copper-361 million, Chemicals-221 m, fruits- 150 m and wood pulp 97 m.

Chile is not just about business ….Chile entertains Indians and elevates their spirit.

The Chilean actress Jennifer Mayani has acted in nine Bollywood movies since 2005. The movies are: Good Boy-Bad Boy, Heyy Babyy, Om Shanti Om, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Bhram, Desi Boyz, Victory, Apartment and Golmaal 3

Chile elevates Indian spirit with its famous wines. Chilean wines are available in wine shops across India. The popular Chilean varietals are Carmenere, Merlot, Cabernet Savignon, Pinot Noire, Chardonnay and Savignon Blanc. 

Cheers to Chile...

Chilean actress in Bollywood

The Chilean actress Jennifer Mayani, is part of Chilean President Gabriel Boric's delegation, visiting India next week. 

Mayani has been acting in Bollywood movies since 2005 starting with the Hindi film Dus. She has acted in a total of 10 films including  Good Boy-Bad Boy, Heyy Babyy, Om Shanti Om, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Bhram, Desi Boyz, Victory, Apartment and Golmaal 3.

Mayani has done modelling in Indian commercial ads and walked the ramps in fashion shows.

She is of Sindhi origin born in Punta Arenas, the southern most town in Chile. There is a small Indian community of a few Sindhi families settled in Punta Arenas. There are a few hundred Sindhis in other Chilean cities such as Santiago and Iquique.

Latin American actors in Indian films

Mayani is the latest Latin American actor to enter Indian films.

Mexican actress Barbara Mori acted as heroine in the Bollywood film ̈Kites ̈ released in 2010 

The following six Brazilian actresses have acted in Bollywood films: 

Bruna Abdullah - started off with an item number in Cash, followed by a small role and a special number in I Hate Luv Storys (2010) and Desi Boyz (2011) respectively. In 2012 she appeared in a Tamil film, Billa II. 

Izabelle Leite- Initially labelled the 'mystery woman' that cricketer Virat Kohli was spotted shopping with in Singapore, the Brazilian model has made her Hindi film debut with Raj Purohit's Sixteen. 

Giselli Monteiro- She surprised the audience by playing a typical Punjabi girl in Imtiaz Ali's Love Aaj Kal, starring Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone. Then, in 2011, she appeared in Always Kabhi Kabhi, which was produced by Shah Rukh Khan. 

Gabriela Bertante- came to India in 2010 and took part in a fashion week in Mumbai. she was roped in as a VJ on a popular youth channel. In 2012, she appeared in back-to-back Tamil and Telugu films, Billa II, Devudu Chesina Manushulu and Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu. 

Nathalia Pinheiro- Also known as Nathalia Kaur, she was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She won a calendar's model hunt contest in 2012 and appeared in it that year. Later, she made her film debut in the Kannada film, Dev Son Of Mudde Gowda, followed by an item number in Ram Gopal Varma's Amitabh Bachchan-Sanjay Dutt starrer Department (2012). 

Mariah Gomes- She made her B-town debut with a hit item song, Neeyat Kharab Hai in the Amitabh Bachchan-Ben Kingsley starrer Teen Patti (2010). Then, in 2011, the Brazilian model landed a full-fledged role opposite Prateik in Rohan Sippy's Dum Maro Dum. 

Vallery Maravi, a Peruvian actress has acted in a Kannadiga film "Neenilada Male" which was released in 2018. 

Reynaldo Arenas, a Peruvian actor, coproduced a film in collaboration with Bollywood producers and also acted in the film. 

Indian actor in Latin America

Prabhakar Sharan from Motihari in Bihar, settled in Costa Rica, has acted as hero in a Costa Rican film, Enredados, La Confusion ( Entangled, the confusion).

Indian film producer in Honduras

Mathew Kodath of Kerala, settled in Honduras, produced a Spanish film “Amor y Frijoles” ( Love and Beans- 2009) and another film “Quien Paga La Cuenta” (Who Pays The Bill?-2013) His production company Guacamaya Films also makes television content, including serials and soaps, for two of the biggest television channels in Honduras. 

Indian film shooting in Latin America

Indian producers have started going to Latin America for location shootings. A telugu film Sarrainodu starring Allu Arjun was shot in the famous Uyuni Salt field area of Bolivia in 2016. 

Rajnikant shot a dancing sequence in Machu Pichu, Peru for his film Robot. This was the first ever and last ever film shooting in the sacred premises of Machu Pichu. The Peruvians have banned film shootings after Rajnikant’s dance.

 Endemol India shot a TV serial ́Jor Ka Jhatka ́ in Buenos Aires in December 2010 – January 2011 with 28 Indian actors who stayed here for 40 days. This show was hosted by Shahrukh Khan in Imagine channel in February 2011. 

Some parts of Indian reality show--Khatron ke khiladi--was shot in Argentina starring Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor. 

Film collaborations

An Argentine director Pablo Cesar made a feature film ̈Unicorn-the garden of fruits ̈ in 1996 as a coproduction with India and made a few more later. His new film ̈Thinking of Him ̈ based on the romantic story of meeting of Tagore with Victoria O ́campo in Buenos Aires was premiered on 28 November 2017 in the Goa Film Festival.

The Argentine musician, Gustavo Santaolalla composed music for the Amir Khan film ̈Dhobi Ghat ̈ directed by Kiran Rao. This was released in January 2011.

Yash Raj Films had collaborated with Colombia’s 64-A Films to remake their Bollywood films in Spanish for Colombian audience. 

Team Toon Studio of Barranquilla in Colombia has made a cartoon film for an Indian producer in 2017. 

Alfonso Cuaron, the Mexican film director and Oscar winner, supports and mentors an Indian film maker Chaitanya Tamnahne in the making of the film "The disciple". This movie, about North Indian classical music, became the first Indian movie to play in Venice competition in 20 years last week, where it won Best Screenplay award. 

Television

Indian TV channels have shown Latin American soap operas such as Ugly Betty and Second Chance. 

Omm Moo (yoga for kids 4-9 years) a famous Colombian TV serial (2013 production) was telecast in Tamil by Sun TV in Tamilnadu. The 26 episode (7 minutes each) series mixes 3D and 2D animation with live-action and shows cows solving their problems using the exercise method of yoga. 

Zindagi channel of India telecast in 2017 a Brazilian soap opera" Total Dreamer" ( totalmente demais) which ran into 175 episodes. This is a Globo TV production telecast in Brazil in 2015-16 

Zee TV has a Spanish channel ZeeMundo with Bollywood movies for Latin American viewers. 

Globo TV of Brazil produced and telecast a soap opera ̈Camino das Indias – Passage to India ̈ in 2009. It was partly shot in India and there were Indian characters and Indian costumes. It got the highest ratings during the eight months of its telecast and stimulated Brazilian interest in India. It has been dubbed in Spanish and telecast in other Latin American countries. 

Bollywood films popular in Latin America

Bollywood films are popular in Latin America. In Peru, there are even fan clubs such as "Shah Rukh Khan Fan Club Perú" and "Club Internacional SRK Universe Perú," which are recognized by SRK and have a strong online presence on Facebook and Instagram. The Indian embassies use Indian films as part of 'soft power public diplomacy’, through organisation of Indian film festivals across the region.

India's exports to Latin America were 20.2 billion dollars in 2024

India’s exports to Latin America in 2024 (January-December) increased marginally to 20.2 billion US dollars from 19.7 billion in 2023.

Top destinations:

Brazil         6.54 billion

Mexico      5.72 bn

Colombia 1.38 bn

Chile         1.14

Argentina 1.0

Peru           947 million

Guatemala 616 m

Main exports:

Vehicles 4.66 bn

Chemicals 3 bn

Equipments and machinery 3 bn

Pharmaceuticals 1.75 bn

Exports of Motorcycles have increased to 1.4 billion dollars in 2024 from 928 m in 2023. India is the second largest supplier of motorcycles to Latin America after China.

Imports 

Imports from Latin America increased to 26 bn in 2024 from 24.5 bn in 2023

Major sources of import:

Brazil  5.25 billion dollars

Peru  4.73 bn

Argentina 3.45 bn

Colombia 3.1 bn

Mexico 2.92 bn

Venezuela 2.07 bn

Dom Republic  731 million

Bolivia 410 m

Peru has emerged as the second major Latin American supplier  in 2024 overtaking Mexico which has become fifth after Argentina and Colombia.  Main reason is reduction in imports of Mexican crude oil in 2024. 

On the other hand, Venezuela had supplied 2 billion dollars of crude oil in 2024 after the stoppage of supply in the previous 3 years due to US sanctions. Now that the Trump administration has retightened the sanctions, Venezuela  would not  be able to keep up the exports in 2025.

Main imports:

Gold  7.11 bn

crude oil 7.1 bn

veg oils 3.47 bn

copper 2.4 bn

raw sugar 1.78 bn

For the first time in Indo-Latin American trade history, gold has overtaken crude oil as the # 1 item of imports in 2024. 

Peru has almost doubled its gold supplies to 4.4 bn in 2024 from 2.4 bn in 2023. Bolivia which had supplied 2.79 bn of gold in 2022 has supplied only 404 million in 2024.

The import of raw sugar is from Brazil and it is refined and reexported to other countries 

India's importance to Latin America

In 2024, India was the 5th largest destination for Latin America's exports after US, China, Canada and Spain. This means India is more important than Germany, UK, France or Japan.

India was the 7th largest supplier of goods to Latin America 

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Source: International Trade Centre ( joint agency of WTO and UNCTAD) Geneva