India and Switzerland Sign Mobility and Technology Pacts, Agree to Explore Defence and Nuclear Energy Ties
The President of the Swiss Confederation made a three-day state visit to India and held talks with the Indian Prime Minister in New Delhi on 5 October 2026. The visit marked the first anniversary of the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), which came into force on 1 October 2025.
The two countries signed five agreements:
A Migration and Mobility Partnership: multiple-entry visas valid for up to five years (stays of up to six months per visit), renewable one-year student permits, and joint work against irregular migration and human trafficking.
A Young Professionals agreement: an annual exchange of 300 young professionals from each side, which can rise to 500, for temporary jobs and skill-building.
A transport and infrastructure MoU (memorandum of understanding) covering electric mobility, ropeways, tunnels and circular-economy technologies.
A science and research Letter of Intent between India's Department of Science and Technology and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
An arrangement with the Zurich University of Applied Sciences for the Indo-Swiss Academia-Industry Training programme for early-stage startups.
Both sides identified new opportunities in military exchanges and defence production, and agreed to deepen cooperation in civil nuclear energy. These are areas to explore; no defence or nuclear agreement was signed.
New joint research projects are planned in health, clean energy and space.
India-Switzerland Relations
India and Switzerland are friendly partners whose ties rest on democracy, the rule of law and a habit of staying out of military blocs: India through non-alignment and strategic autonomy, Switzerland through permanent neutrality. Switzerland is a small, rich European country that is not in the European Union. It matters to India as a source of advanced technology and investment, as the host of many global bodies in Geneva, and as a member of EFTA, with which India has its first European free trade agreement.
The visit widened the relationship beyond trade and banking into mobility, research, defence production and civil nuclear energy. The infrastructure MoU builds on Swiss strengths in tunnels and ropeways that India already uses.
Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreements (MMPAs)
A Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement is a deal between two countries about the movement of people. It makes it easier for students, researchers, skilled workers and young professionals to study or work legally in the other country. In return, both sides work together against illegal migration and agree to take back their own citizens who stay illegally. In simple words, it opens a legal front door and helps close the illegal back door.
The Swiss deal follows the standard MMPA pattern: long-validity multiple-entry visas and student permits on one side, and cooperation against irregular migration and trafficking on the other. The separate young professionals quota of 300 (up to 500) is smaller than the UK or Australian schemes, reflecting Switzerland's small population.
India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA)
The India-EFTA TEPA is a trade deal between India and the four countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA): Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Both sides cut import taxes on each other's goods and open some services. Its most special feature is a promise by EFTA countries to work towards $100 billion of investment in India over 15 years, the first time an Indian trade deal has a numbered investment target.
The state visit was timed to mark one year of TEPA. Both sides used it to push the investment promise forward, with Swiss priorities in biotechnology, life sciences, banking, insurance, food processing and sustainability.
- Swiss state visit: three days; talks in New Delhi on 5 October 2026
- Five agreements signed: Migration and Mobility Partnership, Young Professionals agreement, transport and infrastructure MoU, DST-Swiss National Science Foundation Letter of Intent, Zurich University of Applied Sciences arrangement
- Visas: multiple-entry, valid up to 5 years, stays up to 6 months per visit; student permits for 1 year, renewable
- Young professionals: 300 per side per year, expandable to 500
- Defence (military exchanges, defence production) and civil nuclear energy identified as areas to explore
- India-EFTA TEPA in force since 1 October 2025; $100 billion investment goal and 1 million jobs over 15 years
- India-Switzerland trade (2024-25): about $23.27 billion; Switzerland is India's 15th largest trading partner