India–Israel relations

India and Israel maintain a close and multifaceted bilateral relationship, underpinned by strategic interests, and a history of cooperation across various sectors. Over the years, Israel has emerged as one of India’s key partners in areas such as defense, agriculture, science and technology, and counter-terrorism. The partnership is characterized by high-level political engagement, increasing economic ties, and collaboration in innovation and security, reflecting a steady deepening of ties between the two countries.

Since the 1990s, the Republic of India and the State of Israel have had a comprehensive economic, military, and political relationship. In 1947, India voted against the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, but nonetheless recognized Israeli sovereignty in 1950. Israel opened a consulate in Bombay in 1953. Collaboration gradually increased as Israel became a key Indian ally amidst the India–Pakistan conflict; Israel supplied India with armaments, ammunition, and intelligence during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1999. Full diplomatic relations were established in 1992, when India opened an embassy in Tel Aviv and Israel opened an embassy in New Delhi. Both countries are members of the I2U2 Group, formed in October 2021, and have stated that they have a strong bilateral relationship, sharing similarities in spirit and facing common challenges, increasingly cooperating in the industrial and technological sectors.

By 2019, India was Israel's third-largest Asian trade partner and tenth-largest overall trade partner – bilateral trade, excluding military sales, stood at around US$6.3 billion. As of 2015, both countries are negotiating an extensive bilateral free-trade agreement, focusing on areas such as information technology, biotechnology, and agriculture. As of 2022, India is Israel's largest client for military equipment sales, and Israel is India's second-largest supplier of military equipment after Russia; approximately 42.1% of all Israeli arms exports are received by India. Between the 1999 Kargil conflict and 2010, India has spent $9 billion on defense purchases from Israel. By 2022, Israel has spent $3.2 billion on crude oil and diamonds from India. Their strategic ties extend to joint military training as well as intelligence-sharing on the activity of various terrorist groups. Israel provided humanitarian aid to India after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. Since the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, India has reportedly been providing significant military assistance to Israel. One key area of support has been the provision of Hermes 900 drones. With increased tension between Iran and Israel in 2024, there has been a geopolitical shift by India away from Iran and towards Israel.

Israel is represented in India through an embassy in New Delhi as well as consulates in Mumbai and Bangalore. India is represented in Israel through an embassy in Tel Aviv; the Indian government does not currently recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital city (see status of Jerusalem). In 2009, an international study on the Arab–Israeli conflict revealed that around 58 percent of Indian respondents sympathized with Israel—the most positive opinion of any country surveyed. In 2023, a survey revealed that Israelis hold the most favorable views of India among all countries surveyed. According to the data, 71% of Israeli respondents expressed a favorable opinion of India, while 20% held unfavorable views and 9% did not express an opinion.