The argument, gaining traction among policymakers and economists, holds that possessing lithium deposits or rolling out digital payment systems means little if a country lacks the technical workforce to capitalise on them. Without sustained investment in skills and digital inclusion, the concern runs, resource-rich nations risk becoming suppliers of raw materials to economies that retain the higher-value manufacturing and engineering work, a pattern reminiscent of earlier extractive relationships between the Global North and South.

Latin America's position illustrates the risk. The region holds substantial reserves of lithium and copper, both critical to battery production and renewable infrastructure, and governments have begun pushing for local value-addition agreements rather than simple export contracts. Yet informal employment across the region exceeds 50 per cent, vocational training remains limited, and skilled workers frequently leave for opportunities abroad. Fewer than one in five workers in the region possess basic digital skills, according to regional labour data, a gap that threatens to divide the population between those able to participate in a knowledge-based economy and those excluded from it.

Foreign state-backed entities have meanwhile increased investment in Latin American mineral extraction and associated infrastructure, largely to secure supply chains for their own industries. Critics argue this dynamic risks entrenching the region as a source of raw material rather than a producer of finished goods or technology, even as extraction volumes rise.

India presents a different trajectory, and one that officials in Brasília and elsewhere have studied with interest. Over the past two decades the country has moved from a hub for outsourced services toward what officials describe as digital sovereignty, built on infrastructure such as the Unified Payments Interface and its biometric identification system. These platforms now underpin a startup ecosystem employing more than five million information technology professionals, while demonstrating that digital efficiency and mass financial inclusion can be pursued together without excessive cost.

India has also established dedicated institutions to train technicians and engineers for renewable energy work, a response to the demands of its target of 500 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2030. The scale of that ambition requires continuous upskilling across a large and geographically dispersed population, a challenge Indian planners acknowledge remains unresolved even as installed capacity grows.

The convergence between the two regions gained fresh momentum following the state visit of Brazil's leadership to India in February 2026, which officials have cited as a catalyst for closer cooperation on digital financial infrastructure, including efforts to link the two countries' real-time payment platforms.

Several areas of collaboration have since been proposed. Indian education technology companies are in discussions with Latin American institutions to develop bilingual, open-source learning platforms aimed at closing vocational gaps. Engineering institutes on both sides have discussed joint innovation hubs focused on renewable energy and public digital infrastructure, with the explicit aim of reducing dependence on proprietary systems developed in Western markets. Development banks are also being approached to finance green industrialisation projects and technology incubation schemes that neither region could easily fund alone.

Officials involved in these discussions describe the partnership as pragmatic rather than ideological, driven by overlapping economic interests rather than a shared political programme. Whether the cooperation translates into measurable outcomes will depend on the willingness of both governments to sustain funding for training programmes beyond the current wave of diplomatic engagement.

For now, the relationship stands as an early test of whether countries in the Global South can coordinate around shared technological priorities rather than compete for the same export markets. Both India and the Latin American governments involved have indicated they intend to expand the arrangement over the coming year, though specific funding commitments have yet to be finalised.

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