India–Seychelles relations are bilateral relations between the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by ...

and the

Republic of Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

. India has a High Commission in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

while Seychelles maintains a High Commission in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

History

Diplomatic ties between India and Seychelles have existed since Seychelles gained independence in 1976. A resident high commissioner of India has been in Victoria since 1987 while Seychelles opened its resident mission in New Delhi in 2008. Relations between the two countries have been warm and cordial with regular high level exchange visits between the countries. From India,

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

and

Presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *''Præsidenten ...

R Venkataraman Ramaswamy Venkataraman (, 4 December 191027 January 2009), also known as R. Venkataraman, was an Indian lawyer, independence activist and politician who served as a union minister and as the president of India. Venkataraman was born in Rajam ...

and

Pratibha Patil Pratibha Devisingh Patil (born 19 December 1934), also known as Pratibha Patil Shekhawat, is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the president of India from 2007 to 2012. She was the first woman to become the president of India. A m ...

have visited the Seychelles, while

France Albert Rene France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, an ...

James Alix Michel James Alix Michel, GCSK (born 16 August 1944) is a Seychellois politician who served as the third President of Seychelles from 2004 to 2016. He previously served as vice president under his predecessor, France-Albert René, from 1996 to 2004. ...

and

Danny Faure Danny Faure (born 8 May 1962) is a Seychellois politician who served as the fourth President of Seychelles from 16 October 2016 until 26 October 2020. Previously, he served as Vice President of Seychelles from 2010 to 2016. Faure is a member of t ...

of Seychelles have paid state visits to India. India and Seychelles have broad based relations that cover a host of sectors including defence, culture, trade and technical cooperation. According to the Ministry of External Affairs of the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

, relations between India and Seychelles have been characterised by "close friendship, understanding and cooperation", while Seychelles has described itself as a "rock of dependability for India in the Indian Ocean region”. In its foreign relations, Seychelles maximizes the benefits it receives from both India and China by taking advantage of those two countries' rivalry with respect to the strategic waterway in which Seychelles exists.

Economic relations

Seychelles President James Michel shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Seychelles

Trade between India and Seychelles amounted to only US$40 million in 2010–11 with the

balance of trade Balance of trade is the difference between the monetary value of a nation's exports and imports of goods over a certain time period. Sometimes, trade in Service (economics), services is also included in the balance of trade but the official IMF d ...

heavily in India's favour.

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

petroleum exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth's crust using petroleum geology. Exploration methods V ...

, communications and IT,

computer education Computer literacy is defined as the knowledge and ability to use computers and related technology efficiently, with skill levels ranging from elementary use to computer programming and advanced problem solving. Computer literacy can also refer t ...

and

pharmaceuticals Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

have been identified as areas of economic cooperation between the two countries. India and Seychelles signed a bilateral investment promotion agreement in 2010 and in 2012, during President Pratibha Patil's visit to Seychelles, India extended it a $50 million

line of credit A line of credit is a credit facility extended by a bank or other financial institution to a government, business or individual customer that enables the customer to draw on the facility when the customer needs funds. A financial institution ...

and a grant of $25 million. Among India's private sector companies, telecom major

Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian multinational telecommunications company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently, Airtel provides 5G, 4G and LTE Advanced ...

has a significant presence in Seychelles, having acquired Telecom Seychelles and partnered in the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

submarine cable Submarine cable is any electrical cable that is laid on the seabed, although the term is often extended to encompass cables laid on the bottom of large freshwater bodies of water. Examples include: *Submarine communications cable *Submarine power ...

project.

Defence Cooperation

India and Seychelles have a close defence ties. Seychelles is of strategic importance to India as it lies close to global lanes of shipping and commerce and is an important base in the fight against seaborne terrorism and piracy in the Indian Ocean Region. In June 1986, the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

deployed the at the Seychelles Port of Victoria to abort an attempted coup against President Rene by Defence Minister Berlouis in what was called Operation Flowers are Blooming. India helped avert a further attempted coup by Berlouis in September 1986, when Indian prime minister

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...

lent President René his plane so that he could fly back from an international meeting in

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

to the Seychelles. President René reportedly took shelter in the resident of the Indian High Commissioner in

Male Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...

. In 2009, India acted upon a request of the Seychelles and dispatched

naval ships A naval ship (or naval vessel) is a military ship (or sometimes boat, depending on classification) that is used by a navy. Naval ships are differentiated from civilian ships by construction and purpose. Generally, naval ships are damage resili ...

to patrol the

exclusive economic zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

of Seychelles and to guard it against piracy. India has provided Seychelles with monetary support and equipment such as

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. 245 were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 1983, Hindustan Aeronautics ...

s and Chetak helicopters for meeting its defence needs besides deputing officers from the

Indian armed forces The Indian Armed Forces are the armed forces, military forces of the India, Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, and the Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Ar ...

in Seychelles and helping in capacity building of the Seychelles' armed forces. Various

ships have visited Seychelles as part of their anti-piracy deployment and protection of Seychelles EEZ, including in February 2005, in March 2011, from 4 to 6 June 2011 and from 17 to 19 June, 2011 and , which visited Port Victoria on 7 November 2011 and conducted hydrographic survey of

Aldabra Aldabra, the world's second-largest coral atoll (the largest is Kiritimati), is located east of the continent of Africa. It is part of the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands (Seychelles), Outer Islands ...

. The Seychelles government has leased the

Assumption Island Assumption Island is a small island in the Outer Islands of Seychelles north of Madagascar, southwest of the capital, Victoria. In 2018, Seychelles and India signed an agreement to build and operate a joint military facility on a portion of ...

to the

to build an overseas base of operations there. The

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

is helping to renovate the airfield while the navy has taken permission from the Seychelles government to make a new deep sea port by dredging sand for the same instead of using the ruined, old jetty which is already present. The residents of the island were relocated to another island by the help of

Indian Government The Government of India (ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of 36 states and union territor ...

. Seychelles maritime security advisor is also an Indian naval officer. In June 2018, Indian prime minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

announced that India was extending Seychelles a US$100 million credit to develop its defence capabilities.

Technical Cooperation

India has been working on

human resource development Training and development involves improving the effectiveness of organizations and the individuals and teams within them. Training may be viewed as being related to immediate changes in effectiveness via organized instruction, while development ...

and capacity building with the

Government of Seychelles The politics of Seychelles have historical roots in both one-party socialism and autocratic rule. Following independence from the United Kingdom in 1976, Seychelles was a sovereign republic until 1977, when the original President and leader of ...

under the

Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) is a bilateral assistance programme run by the Government of India. It is a demand-driven, response-oriented programme that focuses on addressing the needs of developing countries through in ...

since the early 1980s. India is a medical tourism destination for the

Seychellois Demographic features of the population of Seychelles include population density, ethnicity, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Seychelles has no indigenous population and was first permanently settled by a small group ...

and the Government of Seychelles has tied up with MIOT Hospitals and Madras Medical Mission in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

for providing healthcare to its citizens. The two nations have also been working together in the areas of environment protection and

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

and India is to set up a solar power cluster in Seychelles. Seychelles is also promoting itself as a

tourist destination A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beau ...

in India although Indian tourists numbered only 8200 in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:India-Seychelles relations

Bilateral relations of Seychelles

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

History

Economic relations

Defence Cooperation

Technical Cooperation

See also

References