leading trade partner.

♤ Indians are the largest expatriate group in each of the six G.C.C. countries.

♤ 3,050,000 Indians live and work in Saudi Arabia constituting the largest number of Indian passport holders abroad, followed by 2,800,000 in the U.A.E.

♤ The processes propelling this movement took place because of the high comfort level with Indians due to the millennia old people to people interaction and their reputation for being law abiding and hard-working. There was no Indian government role in sending them to the region.

♤ Significantly, the number of Indians in G.C.C. countries has continued to rise notwithstanding the tightening of domestic policies to curtail the influx of expatriate manpower and despite the ongoing wars in West Asia from early 2011 onwards.