The UAE-India corridor is sparking a growth story

Something remarkable has happened in the economic relationship between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). When the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed in 2022, both sides had set a target of $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. That milestone was reached five years ahead of schedule. In January this year, leaders set a new target of $200 billion by 2032. Few economic corridors in the world today are moving with the speed and ambition of this one.

The scale and direction

The numbers tell part of the story. Non-oil trade between the two countries grew nearly 20% last year to reach $65 billion, demonstrating that this partnership has moved well beyond its energy origins. UAE entities have invested over $22 billion into India since 2000, while Indian companies have invested more than $16 billion into the UAE. Nearly five million Indian nationals live and work in the Emirates, forming its largest diaspora community and the human backbone of a corridor that now supports over 1,200 flights a week between the two countries — one of the busiest air routes on earth.

But what excites the most is not just the scale. It is the direction. This corridor is being reshaped by advanced manufacturing, financial services, technology, and logistics. Reliance Industries has partnered with TA’ZIZ on a $2 billion-plus investment in low-carbon chemicals manufacturing in Abu Dhabi. Ashok Leyland has relocated its electric bus production from the United Kingdom to the UAE. Larsen & Toubro has been selected as preferred contractor for one of the world’s most ambitious solar-plus-storage projects in Abu Dhabi. Indian banks, technology firms, and health-care companies are building real operational presence across the Emirates. These are not tentative first steps. They are confident long-term industrial commitments.

Investment is flowing with equal conviction in the other direction. DP World has committed an additional $5 billion to Indian infrastructure, expanding its already extensive network of ports and logistics parks across the country. Emirates NBD’s acquisition of a majority stake in RBL Bank represents the largest single foreign direct investment in Indian banking history. ADNOC has signed long-term LNG supply agreements with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited worth billions of dollars. Mubadala has deployed over $4 billion across Indian health care, renewables, and technology platforms. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority became the first sovereign wealth fund to establish a base in India’s GIFT City.

It is for the long term

What underpins all of this is trust built over decades, reinforced by human connections, and supported by a policy architecture — the CEPA, which eliminated tariffs on roughly 90% of tariff lines, the 2024 Bilateral Investment Treaty, and now a strategic defence partnership – that gives businesses the certainty to make long-term bets.

The ambition is now extending into third markets. Bharat Mart, currently under construction in the UAE, will serve as a wholesale hub for Indian goods targeting Africa, West Asia and Eurasia, aiming to help double India’s exports to these regions. India and the UAE are also exploring joint digital infrastructure and capacity-building initiatives across Africa. The corridor is becoming a platform not just for bilateral exchange but also for global reach.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as the next major frontier for this corridor. India this week hosts the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi (February 16-20, 2026) — the first global AI summit held in the Global South. It is a powerful statement of India’s growing role in shaping how this technology develops and is governed. The UAE, which appointed the world’s first Minister of State for AI back in 2017 and has invested heavily in AI infrastructure and research ever since, is a natural partner in this space. The UAE and India are already exploring cooperation on advanced computing capacity, data centres, and AI-driven innovation. In a technology that will reshape every sector of every economy, the countries that lead will not be those that build fastest alone, but those that build the smartest partnerships.

The next chapter

India’s global moment is here. As the world’s fourth-largest economy, with GDP at around $4 trillion, it is powered by entrepreneurial energy, manufacturing ambition, and digital infrastructure that are genuinely world-class. In conversations with Indian business leaders, there is one theme that is coming through consistently: the appetite to scale internationally has never been stronger. The question is no longer whether Indian enterprise will go global, but how effectively the right corridors can accelerate that journey.

This is also part of a wider realignment. The recent Delhi Declaration between India and Arab Foreign Ministers outlined an ambitious programme of cooperation across politics, economy, energy, technology, and security through 2028. The India-UAE corridor is at the vanguard of that broader convergence.

The UAE and India are demonstrating what becomes possible when two countries align policy, capital, and execution around a shared vision. The first $100 billion came faster than anyone expected. The next chapter will be defined not by the numbers alone, but by how deeply their economies integrate — and how far that integration reaches.

Badr Jafar is Special Envoy of the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister for Business and Philanthropy