India and Qatar to finish the touches on the trade agreement talks soon; The expected free trade agreement by mid 2026

India and Qatar will soon end with the framework of the framework for launching a free trade agreement negotiations, where a deal is expected to be completed by the mid -quarter of 2026, and the Minister of Trade and Industry Biosh Goyal confirmed on Monday. Goyal is currently working in Doha on a two -day visit, as it leads a commercial delegation aimed at promoting trade and investment between the two countries.

Joyl told reporters during the visit: “I think that at the time of the middle of next year, or the third quarter of next year, we will be able to finalize the free trade agreement (free trade agreement), if not previously,” Joyl told reporters during the visit.

Qatar, the main commercial partner of India in the Gulf Cooperation Council, recorded more than $ 14.15 billion in bilateral trade with India during 2024-25. India is already a commercial agreement with the United Arab Emirates, and it is scheduled to sign a similar agreement with Oman soon.

Joyl held talks with Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani, Minister of Trade and Industry in Qatar, to clarify the conditions of the upcoming commercial negotiations. He said: “We have discussed that we must quickly launch the Free Trade Convention negotiations. We are discussing the features of reference terms, and as soon as we are completed, we discussed and the Minister of Qatar discussed that we will quickly evaluate them so that trade and business can from 2030 from 14 billion dollars to $ 30 billion.”

The potential free trade agreement would reduce or eliminate import duties across most of the traded goods and liberalize the service and investment sectors. Currently, India’s trade with Qatar is significantly tended towards energy imports. Oil products, raw oil and gas constitute about 90 percent of total imports. In the past fiscal year, India has imported $ 12.46 billion from Qatar, while only $ 1.68 billion, which led to a trade deficit of $ 10.78 billion.

India imports of LNG diameter, roban, button, fertilizers, plastic and aluminum include. Its exports are characterized by industrial goods, rice, jewelry, manufactured minerals, cars, electricity, electronics and foodstuffs such as buffalo and sugar.

India received $ 1.53 billion in foreign direct investment from Qatar from April 2000 to June 2025. Joyl also participated in a meeting with business leaders from both countries. He said: “I can see a lot of opportunities and possibilities here,” noting the strong potential for cooperation in agriculture, food products, renewable energy, AI, data centers, tourism, cosmetics and pharmaceutical preparations.

On the commitment of the previous $ 10 billion in investments, Joyal said: “They have already invested between 4 to 5 billion dollars in India and 1 – 1.5 billion dollars in the pipeline where they are looking for opportunities and are almost in the end stage.”

He added: “They look at good promoters and good projects in India, and I hope that our associations such as CII and Ficci will provide very good opportunities to invest in manufacturing and services (sectors) such as banking services, insurance, data centers, data and real estate.”