Panama is a trade gateway to Latin America for Indian businesses, says ambassador Miguel

Panama ambassador Alonso Correa Miguel said deeper India-Panama cooperation could support India’s export diversification, while acknowledging efforts to rebuild trust after the 2016 Panama Papers scandal.

New Delhi: A decade after the Panama Papers scandal tarnished its reputation, Panama is seeking to position itself as a gateway for Indian businesses looking to expand across Latin America, leveraging its ports, free trade zones and logistics infrastructure, said the country’s ambassador to India, Alonso Correa Miguel.

The April 2016 Paper leaks damaged the country’s reputation, but it is unfair to judge a country solely by the scandal involving a single private law firm, Miguel told Mint in an interview.

The Panama Papers comprised 11.5 million leaked files from the database of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that exposed how it helped global elites, including Indians, conceal wealth, evade taxes and create anonymous shell companies.

Miguel pitched Panama’s Colón Free Trade Zone, Panama Pacifico, Tocumen, and City of Knowledge as logistics and distribution platforms for Indian companies seeking greater access to Latin America.

This comes at a time when India is seeking to further diversify its export destinations and reduce reliance on a few large markets as trade protectionism, especially in the US, intensifies and global supply chains realign.

Panama had the highest maritime connectivity in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2026, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development data, reflecting the strategic importance of the Panama Canal to global trade flows.

“Panama can be your partner. Like to be your port in the middle ground in Latin America--to cover that continent that you're barely touching, and to reach other markets, to reach a well-developed, well-equipped and very trustworthy ally,” said Miguel.

Miguel said India’s Viksit Bharat 2047 goal would require deeper engagement with Latin America. “If that's your objective, you're not going to achieve it without the help of Latin America."

India and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean states (CELAC) countries, comprising 33 countries, recorded a trade value of $50 billion in 2025-26 according to a ministry of external affairs statement. India’s total trade with Latin America and the Caribbean region in 2024-25, comprising 43 countries, stood at $39.19 billion according to the commerce and industry ministry.

“It (India and Panama cooperation) will take off once the big companies realize that they can use the Colón Free Trade Zone, Panama Pacifico, Tocumen, and City of Knowledge (as platforms),” he said.

India and Panama had a total trade of $553 million in 2025-26, up 22% from $453 million a year before, according to the commerce ministry data.

Panama Papers

Miguel said that since the 2016 leaks, his country has come up with solutions to avoid the recurrence of such scandals.

“The Panama Paper scandal was something that I think was more made to harm Panama than to try to uncover something. The Panama Papers is a scandal of one private company that spoiled the reputation of a whole country. That is not fair,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the past decade, Panama has “come up from being the mockery of the world, being this disgraced country by the Panama Papers, to one of the most profitable economies in Latin America, one of the hubs of hubs in the whole continent, and having the confidence and being the strategic partner for over 150 nations”, he said. “I think that should tell you something.”

Following the leaks, India formed a multi-agency group on 4 April 2016, comprising officers of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Enforcement Directorate, Financial Intelligence Unit and the Reserve Bank of India to coordinate and speed up probes into Indians named in the leaks.

In a reply in the Lok Sabha in March, minister of state of finance Pankaj Choudhary said undisclosed foreign incomes and assets worth ₹14,636 crore were assessed to tax under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, for cases identified under Panama, Paradise and Pandora Paper leaks.

This was more than a third of the tax and penalty demands for ₹41,257 crore raised from 1,368 assessments under this black money law until December 31, 2025, he said.

India also created dedicated Foreign Asset Investigation Units within the Income-tax Department in 2020 to act on information received through international exchange mechanisms.