Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Malaysia from February 7–8 and hold bilateral talks with his counterpart, Anwar Ibrahim. The upcoming visit marks PM Modi’s third visit to Malaysia and the first since bilateral relations were elevated to a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” in August 2024, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.
India is looking at opportunities for collaboration across the defence sector during the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Modi to Malaysia, including the sale of Dornier aircraft and the maintenance of Scorpene submarines and SU-30 aircraft, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.
During his visit, PM Modi will also interact with members of the Indian diaspora in Malaysia and other business representatives.
Malaysia has a 2.9 million-strong Indian diaspora, the third largest in the world, and the second-largest PIO community, numbering 2.75 million. Malaysia is an important partner for India in ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific region and a key pillar of India’s Act East Policy.
The Torana Gate, situated at Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur, is a gift from India to Malaysia as a mark of continued friendship between the two countries. The Torana Gate was inaugurated jointly by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, and Najib Razak, the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, on November 23, 2015.
India-Malaysia diplomatic ties were elevated to the status of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the visit of Anwar Ibrahim to India from August 19–21, 2024. The bilateral relationship was earlier elevated to an Enhanced Strategic Partnership in 2015 when PM Narendra Modi visited Malaysia. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1957.
PM Modi also met Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on the margins of the BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 6, 2025. PM Modi participated virtually in the 22nd ASEAN-India Summit convened in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2025. The two Prime Ministers also interacted over a telephone call on October 22, 2025.
Prime Minister Modi last visited Malaysia on an official visit from November 21–23, 2015, and later made a brief stopover in Kuala Lumpur on May 31, 2018. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim visited India on a State Visit from August 19–21, 2024, accompanied by five Cabinet Ministers.
There have been sustained and regular political exchanges at the highest level between India and Malaysia since 2022. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited Kuala Lumpur from October 26–28, 2025, to represent India at the 20th East Asia Summit. He also paid an official visit to Malaysia on March 27–28, 2024.
Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh visited Malaysia for the 12th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) from October 20 to November 1, 2025. He had earlier paid an official visit from July 10–11, 2023. An Indian delegation led by Minister of State Sanjay Seth visited Malaysia in May 2025 to participate in the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) and for bilateral discussions.
India-Malaysia defence relations have steadily grown over the years, ranging from capacity-building exercises and military training to defence industrial cooperation. The first regional office of HAL was opened in Kuala Lumpur in 2023 during the visit of the Raksha Mantri.
During Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN in 2025, several ministerial visits took place. These included the visit of Minister of Tourism and Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to Johor on January 20, 2025, for the ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting; the visit of Minister of State to Malaysia from April 18–19, 2025, to inaugurate the India-ASEAN Tourism Pavilion at the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) Fair in Kuala Lumpur, and again in July 2025 for the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting; and the visit of Minister of State for Commerce and IT, Jitin Prasada, to Malaysia for the 22nd AEM-India meeting, among others.
Economic and commercial engagement is one of the key pillars of the India-Malaysia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Bilateral trade between the two countries reached USD 19.85 billion in FY 2024-25. Malaysia is India’s third-largest trading partner in ASEAN, while India is among Malaysia’s top 10 trading partners. Trade between India and Malaysia can be settled in Indian Rupees (INR), in addition to other currencies, from April 1, 2023.
To further facilitate people-to-people exchanges, both countries have liberalised visa regimes for tourists. India is the fifth-largest source of inbound tourism for Malaysia. Malaysia has permitted visa-free travel for Indian nationals since December 2023, while India has allowed gratis tourist visas for Malaysian nationals since July 2024, currently valid until December 2026. Nearly 1.4 million Indian tourists visited Malaysia in 2025, while nearly 300,000 Malaysian tourists-the largest number from among ASEAN countries-visited India.
An Ayurveda Chair has been instituted at University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Malaysia, following an announcement made during the State Visit of the Prime Minister of Malaysia to India in August 2024. The Chair was operationalised in September 2024. Similarly, a Thiruvalluvar Chair of Indian Studies has been established at University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, following an announcement made by the Prime Minister in August 2024. The Chair was operationalised in October 2025.
