South Africa's science and technology relations with India were formalised through the signing of an agreement on scientific and technological cooperation in July 1995.  The agreement is implemented through a programme of cooperation, which is renewed every three years. The first programme of cooperation was signed in March 2001 and the second in February 2008.

Both South Africa and India have invested effort and financial resources in the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) trilateral to maximise the benefits of science and technology cooperation. It is hoped that the strong bilateral relations between these two countries will also contribute significantly to making the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping a success.

 At a multilateral level, India is also a member of the Group on Earth Observations. The DST has identified India as one of the countries that could assist in the development of the MeerKAT and the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network, as India has a large number of radio astronomy engineers and astronomers with PhDs.

 The priority areas of cooperation include astronomy, astrophysics and space science; biotechnology; food science and food processing; science and technology policy studies; right-sizing of technologies for rural applications; indigenous knowledge systems; nanotechnology; and energy technologies with a special focus on biofuel, solar and hydrogen energy.

 The two countries also cooperate through joint research and development projects in specific research areas via calls for proposals and other mechanisms of cooperation such as flagship projects. Cooperation progress is normally evaluated and reviewed by the joint committee during its biennial meetings.