India, UAE Deepen Ties at Dubai-India Business Forum in Mumbai

10 Apr 2025 CW Team

Goyal welcomed His Highness on his first official visit to India and expressed his gratitude for Dubai’s efforts towards greater social welfare, namely its support for Indian citizens during the COVID pandemic, and its establishment of the first hospital for Indian workers saying, “This is a heartwarming initiative, and we thank you on behalf of all Indians.” He also appreciated the country’s role in enhancing India’s logistics system and mentioned its ongoing investments in Africa to improve infrastructure and connectivity there.

He then highlighted the welcoming spirit and deep historical and generational ties between Mumbai and Dubai. He emphasized this point by remarking that this year marks 100 years since the visit of Sheikh Saeed, the grandfather of Sheikh Hamdan, to India. He reflected on the significant bond between India and the UAE, pointing out that there have been six high-level visits between India and the UAE in just two years and the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) as a key point of partnership.

Goyal said that India is the fastest growing major economy and aims to become a $30 trillion economy by 2047. He asked the UAE to be a key partner in this endeavour through further collaboration and exchange. He remarked that Dubai serves a vital gateway for India’s trade and cultural exchange with the Middle East and spoke of the newly launched IIT campus in Dubai and upcoming plans to establish IIM and IIFT campuses in the country as well. He ended his speech by spotlighting the immense potential in sectors such as nuclear energy, fintech, AI, food security, and advanced manufacturing for both countries and expressed confidence that both countries will make significant achievements in these areas in the coming years.

The Dubai-India Business Forum, which took place on Monday in Mumbai, was addressed by Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry. The event was attended by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammad Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE. Goyal welcomed His Highness on his first official visit to India and expressed his gratitude for Dubai’s efforts towards greater social welfare, namely its support for Indian citizens during the COVID pandemic, and its establishment of the first hospital for Indian workers saying, “This is a heartwarming initiative, and we thank you on behalf of all Indians.” He also appreciated the country’s role in enhancing India’s logistics system and mentioned its ongoing investments in Africa to improve infrastructure and connectivity there. He then highlighted the welcoming spirit and deep historical and generational ties between Mumbai and Dubai. He emphasized this point by remarking that this year marks 100 years since the visit of Sheikh Saeed, the grandfather of Sheikh Hamdan, to India. He reflected on the significant bond between India and the UAE, pointing out that there have been six high-level visits between India and the UAE in just two years and the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) as a key point of partnership. Goyal said that India is the fastest growing major economy and aims to become a $30 trillion economy by 2047. He asked the UAE to be a key partner in this endeavour through further collaboration and exchange. He remarked that Dubai serves a vital gateway for India’s trade and cultural exchange with the Middle East and spoke of the newly launched IIT campus in Dubai and upcoming plans to establish IIM and IIFT campuses in the country as well. He ended his speech by spotlighting the immense potential in sectors such as nuclear energy, fintech, AI, food security, and advanced manufacturing for both countries and expressed confidence that both countries will make significant achievements in these areas in the coming years.

Infrastructure Transport

12 Mar 2026

Kavach 4.0 Commissioned on Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah

"Kavach version four has been commissioned on 1,452 route km, covering the high density Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah corridors. The rollout included laying 8,570 km of optical fibre, installation of 1,100 telecom towers, deployment of trackside equipment over 6,776 RKm and establishment of 767 station data centres. Trackside implementation has been taken up on 24,427 RKm covering Golden Quadrilateral, Golden Diagonal and High Density Network sections. The programme aims to strengthen signalling and train protection on key routes.Kavach is an indigenously developed automatic train protecti..

Infrastructure Transport

12 Mar 2026

Railways Advance Kalyan–Murbad Line And Mumbai Capacity Expansion

"Indian Railways is advancing multiple rail infrastructure projects in Maharashtra, including the sanctioned Kalyan–Murbad new line and sizable investments under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project and the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project. The Kalyan–Murbad 28 km new line has been sanctioned at Rs 8.36 billion (bn) on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis with the Government of Maharashtra and has been declared a Special Railway Project for land acquisition; proposals covering 214 hectares are at various stages of acquisition. Budgetary outlay for projects falling fully or partly in Maharash..

Infrastructure Urban

12 Mar 2026

Parliamentary Panel Flags Funding Gaps in Heavy Industries

"The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry (Rajya Sabha) presented its 332nd report on the Demands for Grants 2026-27 of the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI). Figures converted from crore and lakh are expressed in million (mn). The Budget Estimates 2026-27 for the Ministry stand at Rs 79,399 mn against a projected requirement of Rs 94,843.2 mn, a shortfall of about 16 per cent, with revenue at Rs 79,370.8 mn and capital compressed to Rs 28.2 mn from Rs 5,020 mn.The committee flagged recurring BE-to-RE compression and declining revised estimate utilisation, and calle..