India’s Expanding Role In West Asia

Jagravi Singh is a third-year Politics and International Relations student at UCL. She previously lived in the major metropolises of India, Vietnam, Thailand, and Canada and has a keen interest in external affairs and event planning. (Email: jagravisingh19@gmail.com/Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jagravi-singh-2a90b4289)

Introduction

Over the past decade, India has expanded its diplomatic frontier in West Asia, especially within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, transitioning from a focus on energy security and labour migration to strategic engagement reflecting broader global power developments (Drishti Ias, 2025). India’s growing importance in the Gulf is due to its energy dependence and ambition to deepen economic ties by securing partnerships in sectors such as trade, technology, and security (Indian Defence News, 2025). Additionally, India’s security engagement in the region, including joint military exercises and maritime cooperation, shows that India is aiming to advance its role as a middle power in Gulf geopolitics (Solanki, 2024).

Substantially, a strategic initiative in this shift is the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which integrates India’s economy more directly with Gulf and European markets via improved transportation and digital connectivity (Shahab, 2025). Policymakers are now viewing India as a new key player in West Asian diplomacy, with partnerships that have deepened since the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2020 (Samaan, 2023). Therefore, India’s expanding role in West Asian diplomacy reflects a strategic move led by economic connectivity and security cooperation, positioning the country as an influential middle power in the Gulf region (Kumar, 2025).

Historical Background

To analyse India’s development in West Asia, there first has to be an insight into its historical relationship. India’s interactions with the region date back a millenia, based on trade, cultural exchange, and shared economic interests, such as exchanging goods in spices and timber between Indian port cities and Arabian merchants (PN, 2020). In the pre-oil era, these relationships were primarily commercial, but laid the foundation for social networks that would later grow into diplomatic and labour ties, including early Indian migrant communities in the Gulf (GCC Media Team, 2025). Initially active in pan-Arab diplomacy and supportive of anti-colonial movements across West Asia, India’s early foreign policy under Nehru sought to balance relations across competing regional powers and maintain neutrality in regional conflicts (Pethiyagoda, 2017).

However, India’s reliance on the region for energy and the growing Indian diaspora eventually led to the largest expatriate population, pushing New Delhi for more structured engagement with Gulf states across economic, labour, and cultural dimensions (Roy, 2024). Over the late 20th century, the transition resulted in formal diplomatic ties with individual Gulf monarchies (Roy, 2024). These relationships and cooperations boosted bilateral trade and security developments, which set the stage for strategic partnerships in the 21st century (Roy, 2024).

Since the millennium, India’s West Asia policy has shifted from energy to wider diplomatic engagement in areas such as counterterrorism and institutional dialogue with the GCC (Gupta, 2017). High-level state visits, dialogues, and cooperation frameworks have significantly advanced relationships with key Gulf states, highlighting India’s efforts to balance energy needs, domestic economic goals, and geopolitical priorities amid global power developments (Gupta, 2017). These links lead to explaining India’s expanding role in economic connectivity and security cooperation in the Middle East (Roy, 2024).

Economic Connectivity

Firstly, economic connectivity has been a central pillar of India’s diplomatic engagement with the Gulf, rooted in the historic flow of goods, labour, and capital between the two regions (Azhar, 2014). These historical patterns laid the groundwork for modern economic relationships in which energy and commodities moved in one direction and Indian manufactured goods and services in the other, developing interdependence between New Delhi and Gulf capitals (Azhar, 2014). In the post-liberalization era, India’s economic links expanded rapidly as the country adopted an outward-looking trade and investment strategy (Azhar, 2008).

As the Indian economy started to liberalize in the early 1990s, it coincided with hydrocarbon-led growth in the Gulf, prompting the state to diversify export markets and gain petroleum imports from Gulf producers to fuel its development (Azhar, 2008). During this time, India emerged as one of the largest importers of crude oil from the GCC states, establishing energy security within its economic policies (Azhar, 2008). Simultaneously, service sectors such as construction, finance, and technology found fertile markets in the Gulf region, reinforcing economic ties beyond hydrocarbon dependency (Azhar, 2008).

Additionally, infrastructure development has become central to India’s economic policies in the Gulf, especially through the IMEC initiative, which is more than just a transport and logistics project but an attempt to rewire economic networks by connecting South Asia with Gulf and European markets through multimodal connectivity (Bery, 2024). By improving rail, port, and digital infrastructure corridors that bypass existing chokepoints, the IMEC reflects India’s strategic use of these networks to grow trade competitiveness and attract foreign investment (Bery, 2024). An example includes how the UAE became one of India’s largest trading partners in non-oil sectors by expanding bilateral trade in electronics, pharmaceuticals, and petrochemicals, which are then shared with European markets (Bery, 2024). Similarly, Qatar Investment Authority’s plans to invest in renewable energy and infrastructure projects show that Gulf sovereign wealth funds are developing ties through long-term capital goals, reflecting confidence in India’s growth trajectory (Bery, 2024). As a result, economic connectivity has become a trade and investment driver and a cornerstone of diplomatic trust and mutual strategic interest between India and West Asia (Das, 2024).

Security Cooperation

Another indicator of India’s expanding role in West Asia is in security cooperation, which has evolved from bilateral defence dialogues to structured and multilateral engagements that address shared regional threats and global security concerns (Kemp, 2012). During the Cold War, India maintained a policy of non-alignment by not joining any formal military alliances while engaging in confidence-building defence cooperation with Gulf partners (Kemp, 2012). However, in the 21st century, rising threats such as terrorism, piracy in the Arabian Sea, and instability following the 2003 Iraq invasion emphasized the imperative need for India to advance its security ties with GCC states (Janardhan, 2018).

Following on, a key sector of this deepened cooperation is maritime security, where India has increasingly partnered with Gulf states to secure critical sea lines of communication across the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) (Kemp, 2012). India’s participation in joint naval exercises such as Za’ir al Bahr in the UAE and NAGAH with Oman demonstrates its commitment to collective maritime readiness against piracy and non-traditional threats (Bhamidipati, 2024). These engagements between Indian and Gulf naval forces highlight India’s strategic intent to support a rules-based order in the maritime domain, protecting vital energy and commercial shipping routes (Bhamidipati, 2024). Moreover, the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) provide platforms where India and West Asian states can discuss an array of security challenges from local to international threats (Bhamidipati, 2024).

In the same way, counter-terrorism cooperation has emerged as another area of India-Gulf security collaboration, especially in the wake of global jihadist movements impacting both regions (Anas, 2021). India has engaged in substantial intelligence sharing, joint training exercises, and legal cooperation with West Asian states to disrupt financing networks and transnational extremist cells (Anas, 2021). For instance, Riyadh and New Delhi have worked to counter-terrorism measures and improve judicial cooperation to combat radicalization and terrorism financing (Anas, 2021). Policymakers argue that such cooperation shows a shift from transactional security dialogues to institutional coordination, wherein India and its Gulf partners pursue shared security outcomes (Anas, 2021).

While India has elevated its security alliances, its strategy remains non-aligned to not get entangled in geopolitical rivalries such as between Saudi Arabia and Iran (Samaan, 2024). India’s balancing act illustrates the country’s commitment to maintaining diversified partnerships without compromising wider diplomatic autonomy (Samaan, 2024). The policy enables India to cooperate on defence and security with multiple actors, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, while sustaining diplomatic channels with Tehran on energy and regional stability (Samaan, 2024). Therefore, the strategy preserves India’s freedom of action and credibility as a neutral and constructive partner in West Asia (Samaan, 2024).

Conclusion

In conclusion, India’s expanding role in West Asian diplomacy shows a major interest in economic connectivity and security cooperation (Kumar, 2025). These developments reflect India’s pursuit of connectivity as a diplomatic tool to advance influence and resilience in an increasingly multipolar international system (Bery, 2024). Through maritime security, counter-terrorism coordination, and defence diplomacy, India has grown its strategic presence without compromising its long-standing to strategic autonomy (Janardhan, 2018). The approach has allowed the country to safeguard its energy routes, diaspora populations, and broader national interests while contributing to regional stability (Bhamidipati, 2024). As a result, India’s position in the region places it as an influential middle power to cooperate in the security and economic realms (Samaan, 2024).

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