From the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates is the seventh-largest source of foreign direct investment into India, USD 25,586 million from April 2000 to March 2026, and home to 4,326,248 non-resident Indians, more than any other country. Investment is protected by the India-UAE Bilateral Investment Treaty, in force from 31 August 2024, and trade is governed by the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, in force from 1 May 2022. This page sets out those agreements, the questions a business, a sovereign fund or an Indian living in the Emirates asks first, and the practical facts of working between Dubai and India.
At a glance
- Investment into India
- USD 25,586 million
- Seventh-largest source of cumulative foreign direct investment into India, April 2000 to March 2026: USD 25,586 million, 3.25 per cent.
- Equity inflow in the financial year 2025-26: USD 2,738 million.
- Source 1
- Indians living there
- 4,326,248
- 4,326,248 non-resident Indians live there, the largest number in any country.
- Overseas Indians in all, non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin together: 4,344,008.
- Source 2
- Investment treaty
- In force
- India-UAE Bilateral Investment Treaty. Signed 13 February 2024; in force from 31 August 2024.
- Source 3
- Double taxation agreement
- Agreement signed
- India-UAE Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation. Agreement signed 29 April 1992; Second Protocol signed 16 April 2012; see source.
- Source 4
India and the United Arab Emirates: the legal framework
Investment is protected by the bilateral investment treaty of 2024 and trade governed by the partnership agreement of 2022; tax has its own agreement.
| Area | Agreement | Status | What the source records | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investment protection | India-UAE Bilateral Investment Treaty Its page in Law | In force | Signed 13 February 2024; in force from 31 August 2024. | 3 |
| Double taxation | India-UAE Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation | Agreement signed | Agreement signed 29 April 1992; Second Protocol signed 16 April 2012; see source. | 4 |
| Trade agreement | India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement Its page in Law | In force | Signed 18 February 2022; in force from 1 May 2022. | 5 |
| Social security | Social security agreement | None listed | The United Arab Emirates has no entry on the list. | 6 |
| Documents: the Apostille Convention | Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, 1961 | Does not apply | The status table does not list the United Arab Emirates among the contracting States. | 7 |
Where the United Arab Emirates invests in India
The Ministry of External Affairs brief on India and the United Arab Emirates lists these sectors for investment from the United Arab Emirates in India, April 2000 to 2025. 10
- Construction (infrastructure) activities
- Computer software and hardware
- Services sector
- Power
- Trading
- The United Arab Emirates has committed to invest USD 75 billion in India’s infrastructure sector over a period of time, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, its principal sovereign wealth fund, opened an office in GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) in October 2024. 10
- A memorandum of understanding between the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates on a Local Currency Settlement System, for the use of rupees and dirhams in cross-border transactions, was exchanged on 15 July 2023. 11
Sector pages on this site
- Technology and services
Named in the brief: Computer software and hardware; Services sector
Legal work for technology, platform and service businesses: data protection under the DPDP Act, intermediary liability, content and IP licensing, platform regulation, and the licensing and governance regimes that apply to media, education, hospitality and the creative economy.
- Infrastructure and projects
Named in the brief: Construction (infrastructure) activities; Power
Legal work on capital projects and the resources that feed them: land acquisition and compensation, environmental clearance, statutory licensing, EPC and concession disputes, power sector regulation and mining.
Where the two countries are working together
The Ministry of External Affairs brief on India and the United Arab Emirates, April 2026, names among the fields of cooperation investment in infrastructure, settlement of trade in rupees and dirhams and investment by sovereign wealth funds. 12
Questions from the United Arab Emirates
A business from the United Arab Emirates
What does the India-UAE Bilateral Investment Treaty protect?
In force from 31 August 2024, it protects an enterprise-based investment against denial of justice, fundamental breach of due process, targeted discrimination, manifestly abusive treatment and uncompensated expropriation, but it has no fair and equitable treatment clause and excludes taxation, procurement and municipal measures.
A claimant pursues local remedies first, and the text deems that done after three years.
Does the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement protect an investment?
It is a trade agreement, in force from 1 May 2022, and gives an investor no claim.
Is the income of a sovereign wealth fund from the United Arab Emirates on Indian infrastructure taxed?
Schedule V of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (Table, Sl. No. 7) leaves out of total income the dividend, interest and long-term capital gains that a notified foreign pension fund or sovereign wealth fund earns on investment in specified Indian infrastructure vehicles, made on or after 1 April 2020 and on or before 31 March 2030 and held for at least three years.
The fund must be named in a Central Government notification.
Can a sovereign fund co-invest alongside an Indian alternative investment fund?
Since 9 September 2025 a Category I or Category II alternative investment fund may offer its accredited investors co-investment in a portfolio company through a separate scheme of its own, capped at three times what the investor put into the same company through the main scheme.
Entities established, owned or controlled by a foreign government, including central banks and sovereign wealth funds, are outside the cap.
Can a company incorporated in the United Arab Emirates invest in an Indian company without approval?
The Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 set the routes and the conditions on which a person resident outside India may acquire equity instruments of an Indian company.
They allow it without prior approval where the sector is on the automatic route and the sectoral cap is not crossed, at a price not below fair value, with Form FC-GPR (Foreign Currency-Gross Provisional Return) filed with the Reserve Bank of India within thirty days of issue, as the note on a United States company sets out.
Can a company from the United Arab Emirates have a presence in India without a subsidiary?
A company incorporated outside India can seek a liaison, branch or project office, approved by an Authorised Dealer Category-I bank under the Reserve Bank of India’s Master Direction of 1 January 2016, as the note on a German company sets out.
A branch needs five years of profit and a net worth of USD 100,000, a liaison office three years and USD 50,000.
Indians living in the United Arab Emirates
The Ministry of External Affairs brief on India and the United Arab Emirates, April 2026, records the Indian community as the largest ethnic community in the United Arab Emirates, with professionally qualified personnel, business people and other white-collar workers among it. 12
When is an Indian citizen living in the United Arab Emirates resident in India for tax?
Under section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, on 182 days or more in India in a tax year, or on 60 days plus 365 days in the four years before; a citizen visiting from abroad is outside the 60-day test unless income other than from foreign sources exceeds INR 15 lakh, when the test runs at 120 days.
A citizen with such income above INR 15 lakh who is liable to tax in no other country is deemed resident, but only as a person not ordinarily resident.
Is interest on a Non-Resident (External) account taxed in India?
Interest on the account, the NRE account, is excluded under Schedule IV of the Income-tax Act, 2025 because the holder is resident outside India under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.
Selling a flat in India while living in the United Arab Emirates: the tax and the money
For a sale in the tax year that began on 1 April 2026, the buyer withholds tax under section 393(2) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, and a non-resident’s long-term gain on a flat is taxed at 12.5 per cent under section 197.
Remitting a Non-Resident (Ordinary) Rupee account balance is limited to USD 1 million a financial year without the Reserve Bank of India’s prior approval.
Can a family member living abroad inherit property in India?
Under section 6(5) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and rule 24(c) of the Non-debt Instruments Rules, a non-resident Indian or an overseas citizen of India may inherit any immovable property in India, agricultural land included.
An authorised dealer bank may remit inherited assets and their sale proceeds abroad up to USD 1 million a financial year; whether probate or a succession certificate is also needed turns on the asset.
Signing a power of attorney in the United Arab Emirates for property in India
Two routes lead to a document Indian authorities will take: signature before an Indian consular officer, or signature before a foreign notary followed by an apostille under the Hague Convention of 1961.
The status table of the Hague Conference does not list the United Arab Emirates, so the Convention does not apply to a document signed there.
Divorce, maintenance or custody where one spouse lives abroad
These are governed by the personal law statutes and by the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, and a judgment of a foreign court is conclusive in India only within section 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
Practice areas and counsel for this corridor
Practice areas
- Transaction advisory
Structuring, documentation and due diligence for acquisitions, joint ventures and restructuring transactions under Indian law.
- RERA and real estate
Advisory and representation on real estate regulatory compliance, project registration and disputes under the RERA framework.
- Civil disputes
Representation in commercial suits, shareholder disputes and civil litigation before trial, commercial and appellate courts.
- Taxation and fiscal
Advisory and litigation on goods and services tax, direct tax and indirect tax disputes before departmental and appellate forums.
Advocates who write the notes on the United Arab Emirates
Advocates who write the notes for the region, The Gulf
Adv. Harsha Swaroop PPartner
- An NRI or OCI cardholder selling a flat in India and sending the money abroad: the rules from 1 April 2026
- When an Indian citizen living abroad is resident in India for tax: the day tests, the INR 15 lakh line and not ordinarily resident
- An heir living abroad can inherit property in India, but money leaves the country only up to USD 1 million a year without Reserve Bank approval
Working across the border
The practice advises on Indian law. Where a matter turns on the law of another country it is referred to counsel qualified there, and the advice states which part rests on that referral.
Time difference
India Standard Time is five hours and thirty minutes ahead of UTC throughout the year.
- Dubai and Abu Dhabi are one hour and thirty minutes behind Bengaluru.
- India and the United Arab Emirates do not observe daylight saving time, so the difference holds all year.
Instructions are taken between 07:00 and 21:00 India Standard Time (IST), Monday to Friday, as the offices page states. In Dubai that is 05:30 to 19:30.
Documents signed there
India is a party to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, 1961, so a public document from another contracting State that carries an apostille issued by the competent authority there is accepted in India without further legalisation. The status table of the Hague Conference does not list the United Arab Emirates among the contracting States, so the Convention does not apply to a document signed there.
A power of attorney executed by an Indian citizen in the United Arab Emirates may be executed before the consular officer of the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi, which lists the attestation of such documents among its services.
Offices
- Bengaluru
7th Floor, Raheja Towers, East Wing, 26/27 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Craig Park Layout, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001
+91 76765 68787
- Mumbai
Unit No. 4, 3rd Floor, Inspire BKC, Village Kolekalyan, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400051
- New Delhi
L29 to L34, First Floor, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Delhi 110001
Notes for readers there
Notes on the United Arab Emirates
From the region: The Gulf
- What protects a Qatari investor in India: the 1999 treaty's ten-year tail, no new treaty yet, and the tax rules
- An NRI or OCI cardholder selling a flat in India and sending the money abroad: the rules from 1 April 2026
- When an Indian citizen living abroad is resident in India for tax: the day tests, the INR 15 lakh line and not ordinarily resident
- An heir living abroad can inherit property in India, but money leaves the country only up to USD 1 million a year without Reserve Bank approval
- An Indian employee in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait where salary is untaxed: residence, salary, end-of-service pay and NRE interest under Indian tax law
- An Indian employee in Oman after the personal income tax: residence in India, deemed residence and treaty credit
- A power of attorney signed abroad to sell a flat in Bengaluru: the route, the stamp clock and the limit
- A Put Option Against a Resident: What Makes It Enforceable, and at What Price
Sources
- Official pageDepartment for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade: Quarterly Fact Sheet on Foreign Direct Investment inflow, April 2000 to March 2026dpiit.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs: Population of Overseas Indians, January 2026mea.gov.in
- Official pageDepartment of Economic Affairs, Register of Bilateral Investment Treaties/Agreements (dea.gov.in), page 0dea.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs, Indian Treaties Database, Second Protocol of 16/04/2012; Protocol of 26/03/2007 at TreatyDetail?419 recites the agreement signed in India on 29 April 1992mea.gov.in
- Official pagePress Information Bureau, India-UAE CEPA enters into force (1 May 2022)pib.gov.in
- Official pageEmployees' Provident Fund Organisation, International Workers, list of social security agreements (epfo.gov.in); no UAE entryepfo.gov.in
- ConventionHague Conference on Private International Law: status table of the Apostille Convention, 1961hcch.net
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs: Attestation and Apostillemea.gov.in
- Official pageEmbassy of India, Abu Dhabi: attestation servicesindembassyuae.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs, India-UAE Bilateral Relations brief, para 8 (mea.gov.in)mea.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs, India-UAE Bilateral Relations brief, para 10 (mea.gov.in)mea.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs, India-UAE bilateral brief, April 2026mea.gov.in
Limits of this page
Nothing on this page is advice, and nothing on it is a statement that any provision applies to a particular set of facts. It is not an offer of engagement. Reading it creates no advocate-client relationship.
Each agreement is stated as its official source records it: a status only where the source states it, and an agreement no verified source records is left out rather than guessed. Each answer on this page restates a note, a law page or a practice page on this site, which carries the detail and its sources.