Piyush Goyal pitches India-UAE CEPA to ADIA chief, eyes $100 bn investment
Synopsis
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has set a striking benchmark: UAE investment in India must quadruple — from $25 billion to $100 billion. With ADIA, a maritime working group, and a Modi-era CEPA as the scaffolding, New Delhi is treating the India-UAE corridor as one of its most consequential bilateral economic bets.
Key Takeaways
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of ADIA and UAE Trade Minister Dr.
Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi on 28 September in New Delhi.
India is targeting UAE investments of $100 billion , up from the current approximately $25 billion .
Both sides identified six maritime sectors for deeper cooperation, with a dedicated working group to be set up under India's Ministry of Shipping .
India-UAE local currency trade is already in double digits, with plans to accelerate expansion.
Discussions build on agreements from PM Modi's UAE visit in May 2026 , covering crude oil storage, LNG, LPG infrastructure, and strategic reserves.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday, 28 September held high-level meetings in New Delhi with senior UAE officials, underscoring India's growth momentum and the breadth of investment opportunities available to UAE investors under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) framework.
Key Meetings and Discussions
Goyal met Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), for what the minister described as a productive exchange. 'Held a productive discussion on accelerating the India-UAE economic partnership and fully leveraging the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a landmark framework driving trade, investment, and building resilient supply chains,' Goyal posted on X. He also met Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, the UAE's Minister of Foreign Trade, to review progress under the CEPA and identify new avenues for deepening bilateral trade and investment ties.
The $100 Billion Investment Target
The minister outlined an ambitious goal: scaling UAE investments in India from the current level of approximately $25 billion to $100 billion. The UAE is reportedly exploring opportunities across sectors including space, startups, ports and shipbuilding, and India's stock market. Goyal also noted that India-UAE local currency trade is already in double digits, adding that both sides aim to expand it more rapidly.
Maritime Sector: Six Areas of Cooperation
A notable outcome of the discussions was the identification of six priority areas for deeper maritime cooperation: ship ownership, modern ports, ship manufacturing, ship repair and maintenance, shipbreaking, and container manufacturing. A dedicated working group is to be established for these areas, with India's Ministry of Shipping leading the engagement on the Indian side.
Building on Modi's UAE Visit
The talks build on agreements reached during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UAE in May 2026, when both nations announced plans for deeper cooperation in crude oil storage, strategic reserves, LNG and LPG infrastructure, and long-term LPG supply arrangements. This comes amid a broader push by New Delhi to position the India-UAE CEPA — one of India's fastest-negotiated trade agreements — as a live vehicle for investment mobilisation, not merely a tariff-reduction instrument. Notably, the UAE is among India's top trading partners, and the CEPA has been credited with accelerating bilateral merchandise trade since its entry into force.
What Comes Next
The working group on maritime cooperation is expected to be constituted in the near term, with India's Shipping Ministry anchoring the process. Broader energy and infrastructure investment discussions are likely to continue through diplomatic channels, with the $100 billion investment target serving as the headline benchmark against which future progress will be measured.
Point of View
Not a committed pipeline — and the gap between the two is where India's track record on investment facilitation will be tested. The CEPA has delivered on trade volumes, but converting that momentum into deep-pocket capital deployment from a sovereign wealth fund like ADIA requires regulatory predictability and project bankability that India has not always guaranteed. The maritime working group is a concrete deliverable, but six identified sectors without a timeline or capital commitment is a framework, not a deal. The real signal to watch is whether ADIA moves from exploratory discussions to actual fund allocation in the next twelve months.
NationPress
29 Sept 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the India-UAE CEPA and why does it matter?
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is a bilateral trade and investment pact between India and the UAE that has been credited with accelerating merchandise trade and creating a structured framework for investment cooperation. It is one of India's fastest-negotiated trade agreements and serves as the backbone for the investment push discussed during Goyal's meetings.
What is the $100 billion UAE investment target for India?
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has stated that the objective is to grow UAE investments in India from approximately $25 billion currently to $100 billion. The UAE is exploring sectors including space, startups, ports, shipbuilding, and India's stock market as potential investment destinations.
Which maritime sectors did India and the UAE identify for cooperation?
The two sides identified six areas: ship ownership, modern ports, ship manufacturing, ship repair and maintenance, shipbreaking, and container manufacturing. A working group will be established, with India's Ministry of Shipping leading the engagement.
How do these talks connect to PM Modi's UAE visit in May 2026?
The discussions build directly on agreements announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's UAE visit in May 2026, which covered crude oil storage, strategic reserves, LNG and LPG infrastructure, and long-term LPG supply arrangements. Monday's meetings are seen as a follow-through on that diplomatic momentum.
What is the current state of India-UAE local currency trade?
According to Minister Goyal, India-UAE local currency trade is already in double digits, and both sides have expressed intent to expand it more rapidly as part of broader efforts to reduce dependence on third-party currencies in bilateral transactions.
