India & Saudi Arabia Explore Fintech & Clean Hydrogen Collaboration

New Delhi, Nov 1 (PTI) India and Saudi Arabia are exploring collaboration in emerging fields like fintech, new technologies, energy efficiency, clean hydrogen, textiles and mining to further boost trade and investment ties, an official statement said on Friday.

These areas were discussed during the recent visit of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to Riyadh.

He co-chaired the second meeting of the economy and investment committee under the India-Saudi Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) along with Minister of Energy, Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud on October 30 in Riyadh.

"Both countries are exploring collaboration in emerging fields like fintech, new technologies, energy efficiency, clean hydrogen, textiles, mining," the commerce and industry ministry said.

During the Future Investment Initiative (FII) event, the minister urged global investors to seize emerging opportunities in India, particularly in high-growth sectors such as artificial intelligence, renewable energy, digital infrastructure and advanced manufacturing.

India is the second largest trade partner for Saudi Arabia whereas Saudi Arabia is India's fourth largest trading partner.

The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at USD 43 billion in 2023-24 against USD 53 billion in 2022-23. Over 2,700 Indian companies are registered as joint ventures/wholly-owned entities, with investments worth about USD 2 billion in the Kingdom.

Saudi's direct investments in India amounted to USD 3.22 billion from April 2000 to June 2024.