New Delhi: India’s diplomatic relationship with Turkey and Azerbaijan has turned sour following the Middle Eastern country’s open support to Pakistan during the Operation Sindoor.
There has been a growing call to boycott trade and tourism with these countries, with hundreds of Indian tourists cancelling their trips to Turkey and Azerbaijan.
India has a trade surplus with both Azerbaijan and Turkey. While the public sentiment has gone completely bitter following Azerbaijan and Turkey’s support to Pakistan, here’s looking at India’s trade relations with both countries.
India-Azerbaijan Trade
India is the seventh largest trading partner for Azerbaijan, with bilateral trade at US$ 1.435 billion, in 2023. In 2023, India was the third largest destination for Azerbaijan’s crude oil accounting for 7.6% of Azerbaijan’s total crude oil export worth US$ 1.227 billion, Ministry of External Affairs data has showed.
Over the years, India’s bilateral trade with Azerbaijan has increased substantially from around US$ 50 million in 2005 to US$ 1.435 billion in 2023. During the year, India’s import from Azerbaijan were US$ 1.235 billion and exports were US$ 201 million.
India’s exports to Azerbaijan was at USD 86.07 million during April-February 2024-2025 as against USD 89.67 million in 2023-2024. India’s Imports from Azerbaijan stood at USD 1.93 million during April-February 2024-25 as compared to USD 0.74 million in in 2023-2024.
India-Turkey Trade
India’s exports to Turkey was at USD 5.2 billion during April-February 2024-25 as compared to USD 6.65 billion in 2023-2024. India’s imports from Turkey stood at USD 2.84 billion during April-February 2024-25 as compared to USD 3.78 billion in 2023-2024.
India’s import from Turkey accounts for 0.5 percent of the former’s total imports of USD 720 billion.
India-Azerbaijan-Turkey Tourism
Meanwhile as per the Ministry of External Affairs data, In 2023, Azerbaijan received more than 115,000 tourists from India, nearly double the number of arrivals in 2022. India is the fourth largest source of inbound tourists for Azerbaijan after Russia, Türkiye and Iran. Leaving aside the neighbours, India is the largest source of tourists for Azerbaijan.
Turkey saw Indian arrivals at 3,30,000 passengers in 2024, while the number stood at 119,503 in 2014 as per the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey.
The estimated spend per Indian tourist in Turkey is $1,200–1,500, with the total estimated Indian tourist spend in Turkey in 2023 working out to $350–400 million (approximately Rs 3,000 crore)
Turkey is a country that is highly dependent on tourism, with the sector contributing as much as 12 per cent to the country’s GDP. The tourism sector accounts for 10 per cent of the total employment in the country. India is one of Turkey’s fastest-growing source markets.
Can India’s Boycott Of Turkey Tourism Deal A Blow To The Latter?
A data by Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), the apex body representing traders across the country, has mentioned that if Indian tourists boycott Turkey, the country could suffer a direct loss of approximately $291.6 million.
With IANS Inputs