Meetings between the European Parliament and the Lok Sabha (the lower chamber of the Indian Parliament) have taken place since 1981. For many years the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with the Countries of South Asia and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) had responsibility for the relationship with India and 12 interparliamentary meetings (IPMs) took place.
In 2007 the European Parliament set up a specific delegation for relations with India. This was to take account of the growing importance of India to the European Union and the Strategic Partnership that was established in 2004. A number of visits by the European Parliament delegation have taken place since 2007, most recently in April 2011 when MEPs visited New Delhi, Patna and Mumbai. The visits have focussed on renewable energy, security issues and trade.
The Delegation holds regular meetings in Brussels to examine developments in EU-India relations, in particular the negotiations on the EU-India Free Trade Agreement.
