Why the conflict between Qatar and Gulf nations is bad news for India

India also imports ammonia, urea, ethylene and propylene from Qatar.

The fall out between Qatar and the Gulf nations is not good news for India. While India cannot do much at this juncture, it could hope that the issue is sorted out. Qatar is home to 8 million Indians and is vital to India's energy supply.

Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on Monday, accusing it of supporting Islamist groups and also its relations with Iran.

Indians are the largest expatriate community in Qatar. The first concern that Indians would face is with regard to travel. Flight services have been cancelled already and India is making sure that the Indians there are not put to hardship.

India has defence and energy ties with Qatar. India is the third largest export destination for Qatar and ranks 10th at Qatar's imports. Further Qatar is the largest supplier of LNG to India. It accounts for over 65 per cent of India's global import and 15 per cent of Qatar's export export of LNG with an annual import of 7.5 million metric tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) under a long-term contract between Petronet LNG of India and RasGas Co Ltd of Qatar.

India also imports ammonia, urea, ethylene and propylene from Qatar. There has been a substantial growth of India's exports in the past few years. India's exports amount to nearly 1 billion US Dollars out of the two way trade of nearly 17 billion Dollars. In 2014-15, India's exports exceeded $1 billion.

Indian exports also include machinery and equipment, iron or steel, plastic, construction material, electronic items, garments, chemicals, rubber, spices and cereals.

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