Energy security, diaspora interests, and defence procurement pull India in competing directions in West Asia. How should India recalibrate its foreign policy towards the region?

India imports roughly three-fourths of its crude oil, largely from West Asia [1], hosts its largest diaspora concentration in the Gulf [2], and sources critical military technology from Israel [3]. These three stakes sit in different, sometimes rival, capitals — recalibration means de-risking, not de-linking.

The competing pulls

• Energy: import dependence near 77% on a consumption basis [1] makes Gulf and Hormuz stability a domestic economic question, not a distant one.
• Diaspora: millions of Indian workers across GCC states [2] generate remittances and demand goodwill with Arab governments — a constituency no defence deal can substitute.
• Defence: Israel is a top supplier of UAVs, Barak and Spike missile systems, backed by a growing political architecture — the India–Israel Joint Statement (February 2026) and the I2U2 grouping [3][4].
• The clash: bilateral India–Israel merchandise trade was only about $3.75 billion in FY 2024-25 [3], dwarfed by Gulf trade — the Israel link is strategically dense but economically thin, so a purely procurement-driven tilt risks large interests for small gains.

Recalibrating: a practical agenda

• Compartmentalise: keep defence-technology ties functional while separating them from political endorsement; hold consistently to a two-state solution and humanitarian relief.
• Convert dependence into capability: shift from buying platforms to co-development and technology transfer under Atmanirbhar Bharat, so procurement stops driving diplomacy.
• Diversify connectivity: sustain Chabahar — where India signed a long-term terminal contract in 2024 [5] — alongside IMEC, hedging Hormuz risk with alternative corridors.
• Institutionalise diaspora security: pre-planned evacuation and labour-welfare frameworks, plus deeper GCC energy partnerships and strategic reserves.

India's advantage is that it is trusted, in differing measures, by parties that distrust each other. Recalibration should convert that into deliberate, issue-based engagement — energy and diaspora first, defence technology on its own merits — turning multi-alignment from a reflex into a strategy anchored in India's stated commitment to peaceful regional stability [4].