India’s top diplomat in Qatar has highlighted the South Asian nation’s robust startup ecosystem and potential for collaboration with Qatar, emphasising India’s impressive track record of over 100 unicorns in the past years.

“The cultural connection between our two countries fosters this collaboration, allowing many Indians to work in Qatar,” Indian ambassador Vipul told Gulf Times on the sidelines of the recent launch of ‘India Utsav 2025’ at LuLu D-Ring Road.

“As India continues to progress in the startup sector, and with Qatar’s focus on innovation and areas like sustainability, there is significant potential for Indian startups to thrive here,” Vipul pointed out.

Asked what role India could play to help cultivate Qatar’s unicorns, the ambassador lauded Qatar for developing a strong ecosystem to encourage startups to establish and expand their footprint here. He said Qatar offers substantial financing and access to other global markets.

“Startups that come to Qatar can effectively test their products and ideas, and once they achieve the necessary scale, they can expand into other markets. Thus, there are great possibilities and opportunities for startups here to grow into unicorns, and I am confident that many Indian companies will pursue these opportunities,” he explained.

According to Vipul, there is significant activity in India’s startup sector, particularly in leveraging new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI).

“Many of these companies participate in global events, and I believe Qatar is an important partner for collaboration. Last year’s Web Summit Qatar saw strong representation from Indian businesses and startups. Our Minister of Communications, IT, and Railways also attended the Web Summit here in 2024,” noted Vipul.

The ambassador further said, “For 2025, we are co-ordinating with Web Summit to ensure a notable Indian presence there, as well. I am confident that several Indian startups will be represented in some capacity at Web Summit 2025.

“Additionally, many Indians are connecting with Qatari entities, aiming to bring their innovative models and ideas to Qatar, where they can conduct pilot projects and launch their start-ups.”

The ambassador also lauded the growing Qatar-India relations that both nations witnessed in the past years, citing the significance of LuLu Group’s launch of ‘India Utsav 2025’ to celebrate India’s 75th Republic Day.

Vipul described 2024 as a “wonderful” year for India-Qatar ties, which witnessed several high-level visits to the country, including India’s prime minister and the national affairs minister.

“We have historic and friendly relations between our two countries, on trade, on investment, on energy, on new technologies across the board...I think our relations are going forward. Businesses like LuLu are emblematic of this co-operation between India and Qatar on the trade and investment side,” Vipul said.

He added: “I would say that centuries ago, the relationship was based more on trade and people ties. All that can be seen here in LuLu is the number of Indian products which are available. But more than that, an Indian business, which is also bringing products from elsewhere in Qatar, which is such an integral part now of the Qatari economy.”