Closer than most people guess: India (3,287,263 km²) is only about 18% larger than Argentina (2,780,400 km²).
Argentina sits in South America, India in Asia. On the old Mercator map the latitude gap distorted how large each felt beside the other; at true size the answer is simply 1.2×.
The old map muddied it further: Mercator inflates Argentina about 1.5× and India about 1.2×, so on a Mercator-style map this pair appears 1.1× apart instead of the true 1.2×.
Argentina fits 1× into India.
Argentina vs India: key figures
| Measure | Argentina | India |
|---|
| True area | 2,780,400 km² · #8 | 3,287,263 km² · #7 |
| Mercator inflation | 1.5× | 1.2× |
| Apparent on Mercator | 4,111,934 km² | 3,866,807 km² |