Bridging Continents: Assessing Indo-Mauritian Trade and Cultural Dynamics

India, the ‘Asian Economic behemoth’, and Mauritius, the ‘African economic miracle’ have strong, long-standing bilateral trade relations. There exists undeniable cultural proximity between India and Mauritius caused by the Indian origin of the current Mauritian population. From being import-dependent on India, the exports of Mauritius to India are gradually gaining traction over time. Nonetheless, to the best of our knowledge, there is limited evidence on studies exploring the nuances of the bilateral trade dynamics of the two countries, and its association with the shared cultural context. In this connection, the current study probes into the trade competition–complementarity nexus in a common cultural framework existing between Mauritius of sub-Saharan Africa and India of South Asia and investigates the strengths and weaknesses of the relationship using secondary data from 2001 to 2022. Select trade indicators have been applied to identify and analyse the uncharted bilateral trade potential in the diaspora context. The study finds significant cultural similarity and trade complementarity between India and Mauritius.