When bilateral trade between two countries doubles in three years, surpasses $100 billion five years ahead of schedule and both sides immediately set a new target of $200 billion, something more than commerce is at work. What we are witnessing in the UAE-India corridor is the emergence of a new model of strategic partnership – one where government, business and philanthropy are increasingly aligned around shared long-term priorities.
The economic foundations are formidable. Non-oil trade grew nearly 20 per cent last year to $65 billion, reflecting a corridor that has diversified well beyond its energy origins. UAE investors have deployed over $22 billion into India across infrastructure, health care, technology and financial services. Indian investment into the UAE exceeds $16 billion, with companies building manufacturing facilities, relocating production lines, and establishing regional headquarters. Nearly five million Indian nationals contribute to our economy and society, forming the UAE’s largest expatriate community and sustaining one of the world’s busiest air corridors, connected by over 1,200 flights a week.
But the deeper story is not the numbers. It is the architecture behind them.
The UAE-India relationship is underpinned by a policy framework – including the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa), which eliminated tariffs on roughly 90 per cent of tariff lines; the 2024 Bilateral Investment Treaty; a new strategic defence partnership signed in January; and sustained leadership engagement at the highest levels – that provides the certainty long-term capital requires. This is government doing what it does best: setting direction, reducing friction and creating the conditions for the private sector to act with confidence.
What distinguishes this corridor is how business has responded. The investments flowing between our countries are not portfolio allocations. They are industrial commitments. DP World is building $5 billion in Indian infrastructure across ports and logistics parks. Emirates NBD has acquired a majority stake in RBL Bank – the largest single foreign direct investment in Indian banking history. Reliance Industries is manufacturing low-carbon chemicals in Abu Dhabi through a $2 billion-plus joint venture with TA’ZIZ. Ashok Leyland has relocated electric vehicle production from the UK to Ras Al Khaimah. Adnoc has signed multi-billion-dollar LNG supply agreements with two of India’s largest energy companies. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has become the first sovereign wealth fund to establish a permanent base in India’s GIFT City. These are long-term structural bets on a shared industrial future.
And there is a third dimension that deserves attention: strategic philanthropy.
Many of the most consequential challenges in this corridor – healthcare access, food security, climate resilience and workforce development – sit at the intersection of public policy and private capability. Philanthropic capital can play a uniquely catalytic role: taking early risks, supporting innovation before it reaches commercial viability, and bridging gaps that neither government budgets nor market incentives can close alone.
The UAE has spent a decade building an environment where these three forces – policy, capital, and purpose – operate in closer co-ordination. With non-oil sectors now driving the majority of economic activity and strong private and philanthropic institutions supporting national priorities, the country has developed a model that connects vision with execution. India, with its extraordinary scale, entrepreneurial dynamism and deep traditions of giving, is a natural partner for extending this approach.
This matters well beyond the bilateral. The innovations emerging from this corridor – in digital public infrastructure, clean energy, logistics – can be adapted and scaled across the Global South. India’s digital solutions can find new applications across the Middle East and Africa. Models tested in the UAE’s fast-moving regulatory environment can be refined and deployed across India’s vastly larger market. Both countries are already exploring joint digital infrastructure and capacity-building initiatives in Africa. Knowledge and innovation, not just capital, are flowing in both directions.
Artificial intelligence may be the most consequential test case for this model. India this week hosts the AI Impact Summit — the first global AI summit held in the Global South, with over 35,000 registrations and participation from more than 100 countries. The UAE moved early in this space, appointing the world's first Minister of State for AI in 2017 and building major infrastructure in computing, data and applied research. Both countries are now exploring cooperation on advanced computing capacity, data centres and AI-driven services.
During my visit to India this week, conversations with business leaders, investors, and institutions are centred not on individual transactions but on systems: how to align incentives across sectors, how to bring capital together with expertise and how to ensure innovation reaches the communities that need it most. The appetite for deeper, more structured collaboration is unmistakable on both sides.
When governments set direction, businesses bring execution and philanthropy catalyses what neither can achieve alone, partnerships become more than the sum of their parts.
The UAE–India corridor is becoming a proof point for this model. The question now is not whether it works, but how far it can reach.
