HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF INDIA–QATAR RELATIONS
Relations between India and Qatar go back to the ancient times. The Harappans in India interacted with the people of the region.
In modern times, the relations between India and Qatar emerged due to the establishment of the British colonial rule in India. When the British were establishing their base in India, they undertook trade with Qatar through the ports of Al Bida and Zubra.
After independence the relations between India and Qatar resumed from 1971. Since 1971, India and Qatar have very cordial and deep relations. There are two reasons for it.
Firstly, in Qatar, there is a sizeable Indian diaspora that acts as a bridge in the relations. Due to large diaspora, there is a deep presence of Indian culture in Qatar. Indian expats are the largest in numbers and make up around 25% of the Qatar population and approx population of Indians in Qatar as of 2023 is around 7.5 Lakh.
Secondly, the political leaders of both states enjoy commonality of views on multiple matters of regional and global significance, ensuring a natural convergence.
The important dimensions to the relationship between India and Qatar are:
COMMERCIAL DIPLOMACY BETWEEN INDIA AND QATAR
India’s total imports from Qatar in FY2022-23 were valued at $16.81 billion, of which LNG imports alone were worth $8.32 billion, or 49.5%. India’s other major imports from Qatar are also fossil fuel-linked commodities and products, such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), plastics, and other petrochemicals.
On the other hand, India’s exports to Qatar were valued at just $1.97 billion in FY2022-23. Thus there is a huge rade imbalance between India and Qatar.
The major exports include cereals, copper articles, iron and steel articles, vegetables, fruits, spices, and processed food products.
A lot of Indian firms are conducting businesses in Qatar. Some of the most prominent Indian firms include TCS, Mahindra, Simplex and Wipro.
There are also Indian banks present, namely, ICICI, SBI and Canara bank, but following the rules of an Islamic state, they do not indulge in retail banking.
In 2014, Larsen & Toubro won an infrastructure contract in Qatar and is undertaking construction of the Al-Wakra bypass and the metro rail of Qatar.
In 2014, the Indian embassy in Qatar had organised an investment event to garner investment for support to Make in India programme.
NATURAL GAS DIPLOMACY BETWEEN INDIA AND QATAR
LNG is at the heart of the trade relationship — it makes up almost 50% of overall Indian imports (by value) from Qatar.
In 2003, India signed an LNG deal with Qatar. As per the deal, Qatar would supply 7. 5 million tonnes of LNG per year from 2003 to 2028. Qatar has the third largest natural gas reserves in the world and these reserves are called non-associated reserves. This means that these reserves have natural gas which is independent of oil. The 2003 deal sealed a long term of 25 years’ worth LNG supply for India. Subsequently, the government established a joint venture in India called Petronet to execute the deal with Ras Gas of Qatar.
India imported a total 19.85 million tonnes of LNG in FY23, of which 10.74 million tonnes, or 54%, came from Qatar.
While Indian LNG importers — predominantly the public sector oil and gas companies — continue to make efforts to diversify sourcing, it could be years before the high reliance on Qatar can be reduced to a meaningful extent.
DEFENCE DIPLOMACY BETWEEN INDIA AND QATAR
Indian PM Dr. Manmohan Singh visited Qatar in 2008. During the visit, he concluded three MOUs in defence, investments and energy. A very important component of the visit was defence cooperation. In 2008, India actually tried to link energy cooperation with security cooperation. In this linkage India asserted that both nations cooperate on defence dimension to secure energy supply routes.
Za’ir-Al-Bahr is a joint exercise between the Qatari Emiri Navy and the Indian Navy. Its inaugural edition was conducted in 2019 at Doha.
