'Indian companies can feel completely secure in investing in Israel': Finance Minister on bilateral investment pact

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday said that the India-Israel Bilateral Investment Agreement (BIA) brings reciprocal trust in investments.

Earlier in the day, India and Israel signed the BIA at a ceremony in New Delhi. While Smotrich signed the agreement on behalf of Israel, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman signed it on behalf of India.

With the BIA, Indian companies can feel completely secure investing in Israel and Israeli companies can feel secure investing in India with the Bilateral Investment Agreement, Smotrich told ANI.

The BIA supports the promotion of reciprocal investments between the parties, ensuring certainty and protection for investors, and will contribute to expanding trade and investment between the two countries, said the Israeli Ministry of Finance after the signing of the agreement.

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For context, India received around $337.77 million foreign direct investment (FDI) from Israel between 2000 and 2025. The bilateral investment agreement is aimed at increasing both inbound and outbound investments.

Smotrich said that the bilateral investment agreement “gives a strong tailwind for private companies to come and invest in each other’s economies…Indian companies can feel completely secure investing in Israel and Israeli companies can feel secure investing in India…”. He further said that both the governments “highly encourage these investments and create an ecosystem that gives security and insurance for these investments in the years ahead”.

#WATCH | Delhi: On the Israel-India bilateral investment treaty, Israel’s Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, says, "The bilateral investment agreement that I signed today with the Indian Minister of Finance gives a strong tailwind for private companies to come and invest in… pic.twitter.com/DPMozUDZDD

— ANI (@ANI) September 8, 2025

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Smotrich further said that India and Israel have a lot in common, such as contending “with lethal attacks by Islamic terrorism”.

Smotrich went on to say that the two countries share the same values of democracy, freedom of religion, and human dignity.

In the statement earlier in the day, the Israeli finance ministry said that Smotrich and Sitharaman “emphasised the profound economic relations between the two countries, which are based on shared strategic interests, as well as their commitment to advancing economic cooperation in the fields of innovation, infrastructure development, financial regulation, and trade in digital services and it was also agreed to cooperate within the framework of regional development banks”.

The bilateral investment agreement is being seen as a precursor to the broader trade deal. The two countries have been negotiating a free trade agreement and the finalising it is expected to be the next major target of both the governments.