India and the United Arab Emirates on 15th May announced a series of strategic agreements spanning energy security, defence cooperation, shipbuilding, artificial intelligence and infrastructure investment during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE, reflecting the continued expansion of bilateral ties into critical and high-technology sectors.
Among the most significant outcomes was a memorandum of understanding between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company aimed at deepening cooperation in strategic crude storage and energy security. The agreement provides for the possible storage of up to 30 million barrels of ADNOC crude in India’s strategic petroleum reserves, including participation in the Vishakhapatnam facility in Andhra Pradesh and future reserve infrastructure at Chandikol in Odisha.
The agreement also envisages the potential storage of crude oil in Fujairah in the UAE as part of India’s strategic petroleum reserve framework, along with possible cooperation in liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas storage facilities in India.
In another key energy-related development, Indian Oil Corporation Limited and ADNOC signed a strategic collaboration agreement to explore long-term supply arrangements for liquefied petroleum gas. The agreement opens the possibility of a long-term LPG sale and purchase arrangement between ADNOC Gas Limited and IOCL, aimed at strengthening India’s energy supply stability amid rising domestic demand.
India and the UAE also unveiled a Strategic Framework for Defence Partnership covering defence industrial collaboration, advanced technologies, maritime security, cyber defence, interoperability, training, exercises and secure communications. Officials said the framework seeks to institutionalise deeper defence cooperation between the two countries at a time of growing strategic competition and maritime security concerns in the Indian Ocean region.
In the maritime sector, Cochin Shipyard Limited and Drydocks World signed an agreement for setting up a ship repair cluster at Vadinar under the Government of India’s Maritime Development Fund Scheme. The project is expected to support offshore fabrication and strengthen India’s ambitions to emerge as a regional maritime services hub.
A separate tripartite agreement between Cochin Shipyard Limited, Drydocks World and the Centre of Excellence in Maritime and Shipbuilding focuses on skill development and workforce mobilisation for the ship repair industry. The agreement aims to create a trained maritime workforce and position India as a major source of skilled shipbuilding and repair professionals.
The two sides also announced a term sheet for establishing an 8 Exaflop supercomputing cluster through a partnership between India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing and UAE-based G42. Officials said the initiative would support the objectives of India’s AI Mission and strengthen bilateral cooperation in advanced computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The visit also saw announcements of major investment proposals from the UAE into India. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and India’s National Infrastructure and Investment Fund will explore investments of up to US$ 1 billion in India’s infrastructure sector.
In the banking sector, Emirates New Development Bank announced plans to invest US$ 3 billion in RBL Bank, while International Holding Company proposed an investment of US$ 1 billion in Sammaan Capital.
The agreements collectively underline the rapid diversification of India-UAE ties beyond traditional trade and energy cooperation into strategic technologies, defence manufacturing, logistics and long-term capital flows.