India and the Gulf Arab States

In many ways, the Gulf represents a natural economic, political and strategic hinterland for India. But despite India’s size, geographic proximity and civilisational relationships, for many years it was not an active player in the region. This is changing. Economic relationships between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and India are now close and growing in intensity, and India is also increasingly taking a strategic interest in the Gulf. This is driven by concerns about the changing balance of power and India’s growing confidence in its potential role as a regional security provider. GCC states too are increasingly seeing value in developing closer relations with India that go well beyond the economic sphere.