Conflict not good for India
Indians will face trouble as measures to isolate Qatar will hit them in terms of travel
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday termed it an intra-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) affair and said New Delhi is not impacted by it after Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting Islamist groups and its relations with Iran.
But India would hope that differences between Qatar and Gulf countries, which are home to 8 million Indians and vital to India’s energy supply, are amicably sorted out as soon as possible.
“This is an intra-GCC issue. We have good ties with both Saudi and Qatar (the same way we have good ties with both Saudi and Iran). And we will help any Indian who could possibly get affected by it,” Swaraj said.
The coordinated move dramatically escalates a simmering dispute over Qatar’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood, the world’s oldest Islamist movement, and adds accusations that Doha even backs the agenda of regional arch-rival Iran.
The three Gulf states announced the closure of transport ties with Qatar and gave Qatari visitors and residents two weeks to leave their countries.
Indians are the largest expatriate community in Qatar in the same way they are in Saudi Arabia and the UAE — two key countries in the opposite camp. And the immediate worry is the trouble Indians would face as measures to isolate Qatar would hit them in terms of travel.
“The best case scenario for India is the issue being sorted soon, considering a large number of Indians work there,” said strategic affairs expert MK Bhadrakumar. India also has robust defence and energy ties with Qatar. India is the third largest export destination for Qatar (behind Japan and South Korea) and ranks at 10th position for Qatar’s imports.
The Gulf Arab state is the largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India, accounting for over 65% of India’s global import and 15% of Qatar’s export, with an annual import of 7.5 million metric tons (MMT) of LNG under a long-term contract between Petronet LNG of India and RasGas Co Ltd of Qatar, and some spot purchases by Indian companies from time to time.
On December 31, 2015, Petronet, India’s largest natural gas importer, and RasGas signed an agreement for an additional supply of 1 million tonnes of LNG annually from the Qatari company through the remainder of the 25-year contract, ending in 2028. India also imports ethylene, propylene, ammonia, urea and polyethylene from Qatar. So the balance of trade continues to be heavily in Qatar’s favour.
Over the last two years, there has been a growth of India’s exports, amounting to nearly $1 billion out of the two-way trade of nearly $17 billion in 2013-14, registering an export growth of 45% over the export figure ($687 million) in 2012-13. In 2014-15, India’s exports exceeded $1 billion ($1056 million), though bilateral trade came down to $15.7 billion due to decline in Qatar’s exports to India from $15.7 billion in 2013-14 to $14.6 billion in 2014-15.
The major items of Indian exports are machinery and equipment, transport equipment, articles of iron or steel, plastic and its articles, construction material, electrical and electronic items, textiles and garments, chemicals, precious stones, rubber, spices and cereals. A number of reputed Indian companies, including Larsen & Toubro Limited, Punj Lloyd, Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Voltas Ltd, Simplex Infrastructures Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Wipro, MahindraTech, HCL Technologies Ltd, have operations in Qatar.