Qatar and India are taking the long lasting relationship into new areas such as science, technology and startups, disclosed Indian ambassador Vipul.
Speaking at the session organised by Qatar Research Development and Innovation (QRDI) Council, “Qatar: Gateway to GCC Growth for Indian Startups,’ at Web Summit Qatar 2025, the Indian ambassador said that in the last two decades or so, the investment partnership between both the countries has grown tremendously and it continues to grow.
“Now it is time that we grow this partnership further in the emerging areas especially science and technology and startups and I think this provides a great platform for both our countries to cement our relationship further. During the recent meetings of His Highness the Amir in India with Indian prime minister, with our president, with the other leaders, this was one of the most important sectors that was talked about,” he explained.
“Both sides discussed avenues for furthering e-governance and sharing best practices in the digital sector. Both sides welcomed the participation of Indian startups in web summits in 2024 and in 2025. So that itself shows that both our countries are working together in this very important area and this is also important both for India and for Qatar,” he continued.
The envoy said that India has emerged as a global startup hub, ranking among the top three startup ecosystems in the world. “There are currently almost 150,000 startups that India has and almost 100, more than 100 of them are Indian unicorns. Some of the Indian startups are represented here in Web Summit. We have also this year an Indian pavilion in Web Summit. On the other hand, Qatar is also investing heavily in startups through QRDI Council as well as other organisations like Qatar Science and Technology Park,” he noted.
The ambassador said that both countries are looking to cement this partnership further through several initiatives. He remarked: “Qatar aims to diversify its economy beyond hydrocarbons and innovation is at the heart of Qatar National Vision 2030. India’s startup ecosystem has brought about a great change in culture in the way business is done in India.”
He noted that there is a strong focus on supporting innovation and startups through schemes such as Startup India initiative launched in 2016 which has provided tax benefits, easier compliance as well as funding support.
“We all know that with almost 1.4bn people, India is a massive market for startups as well as e-commerce, fintech, health tech, edutech as well as agritech. The widespread adoption of smartphones and Internet connectivity in India has driven rapid digital transformation and India today has a thriving tech and digital ecosystem,” highlighted the ambassador.
“Startups do need a lot of funding support and that can be a massive opportunity for Qatar. I think some of the startups who have received such kind of funding through QRDI are already here. I think it’s important that we continue to attract Indian startups to come to Qatar, scale up from here and to other areas and to invest in Indian startups in India,” he added.
The other panellists at the session including Vishnu, Narahari, RDI expert at QRDI Council; Sujit Chakrabarthy, founder & CEO of DroobiSmit; Arjun Nagarajan, cofounder and CEO of Syook. The session was moderated by Malik Habayeb, international programme expert, QRDI.
The panellists at the discussion.
