India–Finland Relations Upgraded to Strategic Partnership; Focus on AI, 6G and Clean Energy

India and Finland today have agreed to expand cooperation in various areas such as digitalisation, sustainability, clean energy, quantum computing and semiconductors. Both sides also talked about deepening defence and space engagement.

Addressing a joint statement following the discussion with Finnish President Alexander Stubb at Hyderabad House, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to elevate "India-Finland relations to a Strategic Partnership in Digitalisation and Sustainability".

"This partnership will provide momentum and new energy to our cooperation across several high-technology sectors, from Artificial Intelligence to 6G telecommunications, and from clean energy to quantum computing," he said.

He further noted that this partnership will deepen further in key sectors such as defence, space, semiconductors, and critical minerals. Both countries have also agreed to further strengthen joint research and start-up collaboration.

Modi expressed confidence that the India-EU trade agreement will further strengthen trade, investment, and technology cooperation between India and Finland.

The Prime Minister also talked about the ongoing global instability from Ukraine to West Asia and called for law, dialogue and diplomacy.

Stubb is in India from March 4 to 7, 2026, following the earlier visit of Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in February 2026 for the AI Impact Summit. Orpo also met Modi, where both leaders discussed strengthening cooperation in futuristic technologies such as 6G, innovation, clean energy, biofuels, and the circular

economy, and emphasised the goal of doubling trade to boost economic linkages.

India-Finland Ties

Rubix Data showed that India–Finland merchandise trade, which had declined from FY2022 to FY2025, showed improvement for the nine months (April-December 2025) in FY2026 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

In those nine months, India's exports stood at $0.4bn. Notably, India’s goods exports to Finland rose from $0.3bn in FY2022 to a peak of $0.6bn in FY2024, before moderating to $0.5bn in FY2025.

Meanwhile, Imports from Finland to India stood at $0.9bn in FY2022, moderated to $0.9bn in FY2024, and stabilised around USD 0.8bn in FY2025 and FY2026.

Bilateral goods trade was $1.2bn in FY2022, rose to $1.5bn in FY2024, and moderated to around $1.2–1.3bn in FY2026.

India’s investments in Finland have crossed $1bn, including acquisitions. About 30 Indian companies, mainly in the software and consultancy sector are active in Finland.

Over 100 Finnish companies have operations in India. Large Finnish companies like Nokia, Kone Elevators, Metso Outotec, Wartsila, UPM, Lindstrom, Fortum, Ahlstrom, Elcoteq, among others, have manufacturing facilities in here as well. India is one of Nokia's most strategic markets since 1995 and one of its 10 high growth regions. Total FDI Inflows from Finland to India till September 2023 are $567mn.