This article sets out the trade and investment relationship between India and Qatar: the value of trade, the goods traded, investment in each direction, the mechanisms that manage economic ties and the steps taken to promote business. It draws on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) brief of July 2026, which uses figures from India's Department of Commerce, DPIIT and Qatari bodies.

Trade figures

According to the MEA brief of July 2026, India's bilateral trade with Qatar stood at USD 13.91 billion in FY 2025-26. India's exports to Qatar during that year were USD 1.62 billion and its imports from Qatar were USD 12.29 billion. In FY 2024-25, bilateral trade was almost the same, at USD 14.14 billion.

The brief's energy table gives total bilateral trade of USD 18.77 billion in 2022-23 and USD 14.08 billion in 2023-24. It describes India and Qatar as sharing a growing economic partnership, and places India among the top three export destinations for Qatar and among the top four sources of Qatar's imports.

What India and Qatar trade

Qatar's key exports to India include LNG, LPG, chemicals and petrochemicals, fertilisers, plastics and aluminium articles. India's key exports to Qatar include cereals, iron and steel articles, boilers, gems and jewellery, vehicles and their parts, inorganic chemicals, mineral fuels, electrical and other machinery, and plastic products.

The brief lists the top ten products in each direction for FY 2025-26, as per India's Department of Commerce, with values in USD millions.

Exported from India to Qatar:

  • Articles of Iron & Steel: 225.62
  • Nuclear Reactors, Boilers etc: 124.99
  • Cereals: 115.28
  • Vehicle and parts thereof: 100.35
  • Mineral Fuels: 90.22
  • Gems and Jewellery: 80.04
  • Electrical Machinery and equipment: 66.97
  • Inorganic Chemicals: 66.89
  • Meat: 54.01
  • Medical instruments: 53.07

Imported by India from Qatar:

  • LPG, LNG, Crude oil: 10736.70
  • Fertilisers: 428.76
  • Organic Chemicals: 287.27
  • Ships and floating structures: 228.58
  • Plastics: 208.95
  • Aluminium articles: 139.19
  • Inorganic chemicals: 69.37
  • Salt, Sulphur, Lime and Cement: 64.92
  • Misc. Chemical Products: 51.47
  • Iron and Steel: 17.68

Targets and economic agreements

During the Amir's State Visit to India in February 2025, both sides set a target to double bilateral trade by 2030. They also agreed to explore the possibility of a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, and announced that the Joint Working Group on Trade and Commerce would be elevated to a Joint Commission at Ministerial level. A Joint Business Forum co-chaired by the Ministers of Commerce and Industry of both countries was held on 18 February 2025 in New Delhi and was attended by top businessmen from both sides.

Mechanisms for trade and investment

  • Joint Task Force on Investment: first meeting on 6 June 2024 in New Delhi, co-chaired by the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, and the Undersecretary of Qatar's Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
  • Joint Working Group on Trade and Commerce: first meeting on 10 July 2024 in Doha, where the two sides reviewed trade relations.
  • Joint Commission on Economic and Commercial Cooperation: the first meeting of this renewed Ministerial body was held on 6-7 October 2025.
  • Joint Business Council: an introductory meeting was held virtually on 13 February 2025, co-chaired by FICCI and Qatar Chamber. The first meeting was held in Doha on 6 October 2025, on the sidelines of the Joint Commission.
  • Joint Customs Cooperation Committee: inaugural meeting held virtually on 1 December 2021.

Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal was in Doha from 5-7 October 2025 to co-chair the Joint Commission with Qatar's Minister of Commerce and Industry, H.E. Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani. He also met the Governor of QCB and Chairman of Qatar Investment Authority, Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al Thani, and the CEOs of Qatar Airways, Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar Free Zones Authority, Qatar National Bank and Qatar Development Bank.

From Qatar, MoS for Foreign Trade Affairs Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Sayed led a high-level investment delegation to India on 27-28 August 2025. He co-chaired an investment meeting with MoS (Finance) Sh. Pankaj Chaudhary on Qatari investment in sectors such as transport, logistics, food processing, health, semiconductors and finance, and met Sh. Piyush Goyal and Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. He had earlier attended the CII Partnership Summit on 2-3 December 2024. Sheikh Khalifa Bin Jassim Al-Thani, Chairman of Qatar Chamber of Commerce & Industry, took part in the B20 Summit in New Delhi from 24-28 August 2023.

Qatari investment in India

As of the brief, Qatar's FDI in India stood at about USD 1.77 billion, according to DPIIT figures. During the Amir's February 2025 visit, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) committed to increase its investments in India to USD 10 billion and announced that it would open an office in India. Major QIA investments listed in the brief are:

  • February 2022: financial support of USD 1.5 billion to the investment firm Bodhi Tree, which will invest in media and consumer technology in South-East Asia, with particular focus on India. Bodhi Tree Systems invested USD 600 million in Allen Career Institute for 36% stake in July 2022 and, with a consortium, US $ 1.8 billion in Viacom 18 in April 2022.
  • August 2023: INQ Holding LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of QIA, invested USD 1 billion in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd.
  • September 2023: USD 150 million in Indospace.
  • November 2023: USD 50 million in Global Dental Services, the parent company of Clove Dental.
  • January 2025: USD 140 million in Shriram Housing Finance Limited.
  • December 2019: USD 470 million in Adani Transmission. QIA has also invested in companies such as Byju's and Airtel (Africa).

Indian business in Qatar

According to Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI), there are over 20,000 big and small Indian companies operating in Qatar, wholly owned or as joint ventures, in sectors such as retail, hospitality, construction, infrastructure, communications and IT, and energy. As per Invest Qatar, Indian companies invested over USD 350 million in Qatar for the period 2017-2025. Companies named in the brief include L&T, Voltas, Bluestar, Shapoorji Pallonji, Wipro, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Lulu Group, Malabar and Tanishq.

In March 2025, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) announced an Ultra Mega Offshore Contract (above USD 1.75 billion) from QatarEnergy LNG for the North Field Production Sustainability Offshore Compression Project (NFPS COMP 4). In January 2024, Qatar Energy awarded L&T an EPC contract-package for a riser platform valued at about USD 1.3 billion for the offshore Al Shaheen field.

On 15 September 2025, QNB and India's NIPL announced acceptance of UPI payments at QNB POSs in Qatar, and NIPL signed a similar agreement with Commercial Bank of Qatar. UPI was formally launched in Qatar on 7 October 2025, during the Commerce and Industry Minister's visit, at a Lulu supermarket.

The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) and Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA) exchanged an MoU at GIFT City, Gandhinagar, in July 2022, in the presence of Prime Minister Modi, to set a framework for mutual assistance and information exchange. In 2025, Doha Insurance Group and Qatar National Bank (QNB) set up offices at GIFT City. Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has signed an MoU with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to create opportunities for accountants and help Indian firms set up in Qatar.

Trade promotion

The Embassy of India in Doha organises Virtual Buyer Seller Meets to promote Indian exports in engineering goods, gems and jewellery, food products, pharmaceuticals, electronic goods, construction materials and tourism. Three editions of the Indian Mango Festival were held in Doha in 2024, 2025 and 2026; the June 2026 edition drew more than 1,55,000 visitors and recorded sales of 1,88,000 kgs of mangoes and mango products.

The Embassy also takes part in annual exhibitions such as Agriteq, Project Qatar, Hospitality Qatar and Qatar Travel Mart, and the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) organises an Indian Pavilion each year at the Doha Jewellery & Gems Exhibition (DJWE). Indian start-ups took part in the Web Summits in Doha in 2024 and 2025, and DPIIT set up an Indian Pavilion at Web Summit 2025.