For people who think GCC is a disposable option for India, not its not. As many pointed out, its actually the other way round.
- GCC and India have shared historical relations that predate our republic.
- Up until the 1960s the Indian rupee was legal tender in the UAE.

1/n

- India imports 82% of its oil needs, most of which comes from this region.
- Recently ,India's ties have expanded & are not linked merely to oil imports and Diaspora settled there it is slowly also evolving into a defence and security cooperation.
2/n

- Ex. India and Saudi Arabia signed Riyadh Declaration in 2010 to strengthened defence cooperation. This has materialised quite well for India, with the partnership ensuring that one of the handlers behind Mumbai terror attack was extradited to India.

3/n

- The partnership continues even in terms of infrastructure. Ex. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) and Saudi Aramco jointly invested in a refinery-cum-petrochemical complex at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, by investing 50 % in a $ 44 Billion project.

4/n

Now onto Trade
- With trade of $ 104 billion accounted for in between GCC and India, GCC is India’s regional bloc trading partner.
-India is dependent on the GCC for its energy requirements and they account for 42% of its total oil imports.

5/n

-GCC also provides over 60% of foreign exchange remittances at $ 37 billion+ which mostly comes from the 7.6 million Indians who live and work in these countries.

So no,GCC isnt a disposable option for India, if the relations turn sour we will have multiple problems to deal with

How foolishness and bigotry of some can cost India:
-No of Indians in the Gulf are suffering from Corona.
-If post corona large numbers are laid off and states with large number of workers in these countries will be impacted and will need to react. I.e UP, Kerala & Bihar