Over the last two decades, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members and India have made concerted efforts to foster their relations beyond oil, trade and expatriates. In the search for new avenues to convert the countries’ decades-long buyer-seller relationship into a more meaningful one, the mantra is “strategic partnership.”

India and the GCC countries are exploring new opportunities in investments and infrastructure development that link energy security with food security, cooperation in space and artificial intelligence, nuclear and renewable energy technology, and, above all, enhanced defence and security relations. Going beyond the bilateral, the new engagement between GCC members and New Delhi addresses regional and global security challenges through anti-extremism and counterterrorism strategies, and pursues multilateral development projects in third countries.

This change has occurred amid two parallel developments. First, there has been a shift in the Gulf region's economic centre of gravity. Asia has surged ahead of Europe and the United States as the top investor in and trade partner of the Gulf region. This, along with perceptions of diminishing US influence and impact in the wider region, is creating a security vacuum that could lead to the creation of an alternative collective security architecture that includes India.

Second, like several other Asian countries, India has a healthy working relationship with Iran, which has adversarial relations with several members of the six-member GCC bloc. This has encouraged competition between and among the GCC countries, Iran and even the United States to extend favours to India to expand their influence. Simultaneously, the Gulf states have good relations with India's neighbour and rival, Pakistan, which adds another dynamic to the relations.

This chapter focuses on relations between and among India, the GCC countries, Pakistan, Iran, and the United States, which is the main security guarantor in the region. It summarises the multi-dimensional Gulf-India economic, diplomatic and security ties and what these connections and their likely policy implications could mean for the region and the United States too.