India and Switzerland have agreed to deepen cooperation in civil nuclear energy during the bilateral summit held on October 5, 2026, in New Delhi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Swiss Confederation President Guy Parmelin signed five agreements and opened new avenues of collaboration across strategic sectors.
Following delegation-level talks at Hyderabad House, Modi stated that the two countries had identified new opportunities for cooperation in military exchanges and defence production, adding that an agreement had been reached to advance nuclear cooperation. India’s Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that civil nuclear energy and defence rank among the summit’s key outcomes. The five agreements signed include a pact on migration and mobility, one on transport and infrastructure cooperation, and accords on research and innovation.
The backdrop is the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) between India and EFTA — the trade bloc comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Operational since October 1, 2025, the agreement envisages $100 billion in investments and one million direct jobs in India over 15 years. Parmelin was accompanied by a high-level delegation of government officials and business representatives, signalling Switzerland’s intent to translate commitments into concrete flows of capital and technology.
Switzerland is a significant economic partner for India in Europe. More than 330 Swiss companies currently operate in India across sectors such as engineering, precision instruments, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. In the other direction, Indian companies are active in Switzerland in IT, pharmaceuticals and mechanical engineering. Modi invited Swiss infrastructure firms to invest in India at scale, citing the Varanasi ropeway project and Jewar Airport in Noida as examples of ongoing collaboration. New joint research projects in priority areas such as clean energy and space are expected to launch shortly.
The opening on civil nuclear energy fits into a broader strategy that India is pursuing on multiple fronts. In September 2025, the second meeting of the India-France special task force on civil nuclear energy had been held in New Delhi, focused on small modular reactors. The agreement with Switzerland adds a new piece to this network of partnerships, reinforcing New Delhi’s position as a reference hub for building reliable supply chains in the energy sector. The fact that nuclear energy features explicitly on the agenda of a summit otherwise dominated by trade and investment speaks volumes about the direction India has chosen for its energy transition.
