The negotiations between India and six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) are ready to take-off more than two decades after the first attempt was made.
Both sides would be signing the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the agreement on Thursday which establish the framework, scope, objectives, and procedures for the negotiations. The signing of ToR is the first step for negotiations to begin.
The GCC – that includes Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait – is an important trade and economic partner of India.
The bilateral trade between two sides totalled $ 178.56 billion in 2024-25 with India’s exports at $ 58.87 billion and imports at $ 121.68 billion. Among the GCC nations, India already has signed FTAs with UAE, Oman and is in discussions with Qatar for laying the ground for negotiations to begin. Even with Bahrain, draft ToR has been exchanged for initiation of negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
In August 2004 India and GCC signed a Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation, paving the way for FTA talks. In 2006 and 2008 two rounds of negotiations were held. In 2009 the GCC deferred its negotiations with all countries.
UAE is India’s biggest trade partner in GCC with bilateral trade of $ 100 billion followed by Saudi Arabia at $ 41.8 billion. It is an important source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with inflows totalling $ 31 billion between April 2000 and September 2025.
According to latest figures, there are approximately 8.9 million Indian expats residing in GCC countries which is approximately 66% of non-resident Indians.