India and Saudi Arabia are looking at partnerships in the emerging areas of fintech, new technologies, energy efficiency, clean hydrogen, textiles, and mining, among others, to build up the trade and investment relationship.
This initiative was exposed in an official statement after India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal toured Riyadh.
Co-chairing the second session of the Economy & Investment Committee of the India-Saudi SPC on October 30, Minister Goyal sat across the table from Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud. The meeting’s main topic was sourcing opportunities for cooperation across several sectors of growth interest to the two countries.
During the course of the talks, the commerce and industry ministry underlined that these all are promising spheres and hold great potential for the two countries. Minister Goyal also spoke at the FII event, where he encouraged investors to take advantage of the growth opportunities that are available in India, especially in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Renewable energy, Digital Infrastructure, and Manufacturing 4.0.
On this basis, India is the second largest trading partner of Saudi Arabia, and on the same basis, Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth largest trading partner. The bilateral trade between the two countries was $43 billion in the fiscal year 2023-24, and in the previous fiscal year 2022-23, it was $53 billion. Nevertheless, more than 2700 Indian companies have acquired affiliations in Saudi Arabia through joint ventures or wholly owned entities with an investment of about $2 billion to the Kingdom.
In addition, Saudi Arabia’s direct investment in India is estimated at $3.22 billion between April 2000 and June 2024, while witnessing increased cooperation between the two nations in the future.
Join our whatsapp group for Latest updates