Saudi Arabia to invest $100 billion in India

Saudi Arabia to invest $100 billion in India

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced $100 billion worth of investment in India during his visit on 20 Feb 2019.

The investments will be made in coming two years.

As per the Indian Government, Saudi Arabia has already made an investment of $44 billion since 2016. The investment is mostly concentrated in petrochemicals and it is looking for diversify in other areas such as Information Technology. Sectors of interest included energy, infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing.

In a special gesture, Indian PM Narendra Modi received Salman at the airport here, signifying the importance India attaches to the visit by the leader of the Gulf nation.

Giant petroleum and natural gas company Saudi Aramco is in talks with Indian Reliance Industries Ltd to set up a refinery in Maharashtra.

Why Saudi Arabia matters to India?

Strategic Partnership

The Riyadh Declaration of 2010 had forged a Strategic Partnership between India and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has identified India as one of the eight strategic partners with whom it intends to deepen partnership in areas of political engagement, security, trade and investment, and culture.

Security Cooperation

This includes security cooperation, and during Modi’s 2016 visit, an MoU on cooperation in the exchange of intelligence related to money laundering and terrorism financing was signed.

Saudi Arabia has huge influence over Pakistan and India can use this anchor to get the desired results.

Trade and Energy

Bilateral trade was US $27.48 billion during the last financial year 2017-18, making Saudi Arabia India’s 4th largest trading partner, recording about 10% growth compared to 2016-17.

Saudi Arabia is the key pillar of India’s energy security, being a source of 17% or more of crude oil and 32% of LPG requirements of India.