UAE Signals Another $25 bn Investment in India
The UAE is considering investments in ports, shipbuilding, space, logistics, Indian startups and the stock market. India and the UAE also identified six areas for cooperation in shipping: ship ownership, modern port development, ship manufacturing, ship repair and maintenance, ship breaking, and container manufacturing. A bilateral working group will be established to advance the cooperation.
Goyal said some of the additional investment had already begun, including about $3 bn in RBL Bank and approximately $1 bn in Sammaan Capital. The two countries are also expanding local-currency trade settlement in rupees and dirhams, while exploring cooperation in strategic petroleum reserves, LPG and LNG supplies, and subsea pipelines.
India’s port capacity has doubled over the past decade and will need to double again during the next decade as the economy expands, Goyal said. Potential areas for UAE participation include Vadhavan in Maharashtra, ports on the eastern coast in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, and projects along the western corridor between Karnataka and Kerala. A more structured working group will also address civil aviation cooperation.
The meeting covered space technology, food security, agri-innovation, logistics, artificial intelligence and FinTech. Bilateral trade has reached $100 bn, with both countries targeting $200 bn by 2032. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which took effect in May 2022, has strengthened economic ties, while the UAE has already invested $25 bn in India and ranks as its seventh-largest source of foreign direct investment. India’s goods and services exports reached $863 bn in the last financial year, with the government targeting $1 tn this financial year.