India, Qatar to soon finalise contours to negotiate FTA: Piyush Goyal

07 Oct 2025 Evaluate

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India and Qatar will soon finalise the contours to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) and the pact is expected to be concluded by the middle or third quarter of next year. He said ‘I would think that sometime by the middle of next year, or third quarter of next year, we will be able to finalise an FTA, if not earlier’. Qatar is an important trading partner of India in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with bilateral trade of over $14.15 billion in 2024-25. GCC members are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). India already has a trade pact with the UAE. A similar deal is likely to be signed with Oman soon.

Goyal said that he held discussions with Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani, Minister of Commerce and Industry of Qatar on trade related issues. He said ‘We have discussed that we should quickly launch FTA negotiations. We are discussing the contours of terms of reference and once we finalise that, the Qatar Minister and I have discussed that we will fast-track it so that trade and business can double by 2030 from $14 billion currently to $30 billion’. In a free trade pact, two countries either significantly reduce or eliminate import duties on maximum goods traded between them. They also ease norms to promote trade in services and attract investments.

The trade relationship with Qatar remains heavily skewed toward energy imports, with petroleum crude and gas products making up nearly 90 per cent of India's total imports from Qatar. India's exports to Qatar totalled $1.68 billion, while imports surged to $12.46 billion, producing a substantial trade deficit of $10.78 billion in the last fiscal. Key energy components imported by India from Qatar include liquefied natural gas, liquefied butanes, liquefied propane, petroleum crude, and other petroleum products. The other imports from the Middle East nation include fertilisers, organic chemicals, plastic raw materials, aluminium and aluminium products, dye intermediates, and inorganic chemicals.

India's exports of $1.68 billion to Qatar reflected mixed trends across sectors, with industrial products, food items, and machinery dominating the basket. In 2024-25, it included products of iron and steel, rice, gold and precious metal jewellery, processed minerals, motor vehicles/cars, petroleum products, electrical machinery, electronics, buffalo meat, and sugar. India received $1.53 billion in foreign direct investment from Qatar from April 2000 to June 2025.

© 2025 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×