Romania and India were briefly connected by Alexander the Great's empire in 326 BC. 's adaptation of Abhijñānaśākuntalam, published in 1897 Direct contact between India and Romania dates back a few centuries. Transylvania-born philologist Sándor Kőrösi Csoma visited India in 1820 and spent several years in Calcutta. Romanian national poet Mihai Eminescu was interested in Indian languages and literature. He translated a book on Sanskrit grammar into Romanian. Many Romanian poets and philosophers such as Bogdan Hasdeu, George Cosbuc and Lucian Blaga were influenced by Indian philosophy. In 1897, George Coşbuc published an adaptation of Kalidasa's Sanskrit play Abhijñānaśākuntalam. Prince Carol II spent five months touring India in 1920. Rabindranath Tagore visited Romania in 1926 to receive a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Bucharest. Micrea Eliade studied philosophy and Sanskrit at the Calcutta University from 1928 to 32. Romanian sculptor Constantion Brancusi was inspired by Indian motifs after visiting India and incorporated it into his later work.
Modern history
Diplomatic relations between India and Romania were established on 14 December 1948 at the legacy level, and were upgraded to embassy level in 1957. Romania opened an embassy in New Delhi in 1955, and India opened an embassy in Bucharest in 1957. Today, Romania also has honorary consulates in Chennai and Kolkata, and India has an honorary consulate in Timișoara. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, there have been 11 Presidential-level visits between India and Romania. In addition, two Prime Ministers of India and one Vice-President of India have visited Romania. Between 1984 and 2014, six visits at the Foreign Minister-level between the two countries.
Economic relations
Bilateral trade between the two countries was US$727.27 million in 2011–12. India exported $269.54 million to, and imported $457.73 million, worth of goods from Romania. Bilateral trade totaled $713 million in 2013. The major commodities exported from India to Romania are electric machines, devices and equipment, common metals, chemicals and allied industries products, plastic and rubber materials, textiles, food products, beverages and tobacco, vegetable products, paper and cardboard and its scrap, articles made of stone, cement, ceramics, glass and optical photographic, cinematographic, medical instruments and devices. The main commodities India imported from Romania were common metals, sound and image displayers and recorders, chemicals and connected industrial products, plastic, rubber materials, textiles, vegetable products, transport vehicles and mineral products. Several Indian firms such as Ranbaxy, Gujarat Heavy Chemicals, WIPRO, Genpact and Raymonds have a presence in Romania.
Indians in Romania
As of July 2013, around 950 Indian citizens resided in Romania. Most of them are students studying in Timișoara, Oradea and Constanta.
