With voting in India – the world’s largest democracy – ending on Sunday (May 19), the spotlight has shifted to exit polls. Most of them have predicted a victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP-led NDA, while all of them have put the coalition as the single-largest formation, way ahead of the nearest rival coalition UPA led by the Indian National Congress headed by Rahul Gandhi. The official results will be declared on May 23.

The India Today-Axis My India Exit Poll gave the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance 259-284 seats, with the Congress-led UPA trailing at 73-102 seats. Another pollster – Today’s Chanakya – presumed to be more accurate than others, gave the NDA 340 seats (+/- 14 seats), while the UPA is likely to end at around 70 seats. The Times Now exit poll pegged the tally for the NDA at 306 seats and for the UPA, 132 seats. The simple majority for any coalition or party to form a government is 272 seats. Polling was held in 542 constituencies.

The results will be keenly watched the world over, including millions of non-resident Indians (NRIs) working in the Gulf countries comprising Oman, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
India’s exports to the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries stood at $37.71 billion during April 2018 to February 2019, up 4.93 percent Y-o-Y from $35.94 billion during April 2017 to February 2019, while imports rose 25.5 percent YoY to $72.80 billion during the same period, according to provisional data released by the India’s commerce ministry.
A 2017 update by the Indian government’s external affairs ministry says approximately 6.5 million workers work in the GCC region.
India is the world’s sixth largest economy (according to the International Monetary Fund, the country ranks third when GDP is compared in terms of purchasing power parity at $9.45 trillion).

India-Oman relations
The two countries enjoy good bilateral relations, with bilateral trade steadily rising from $4 billion in financial year (April-March) 2016-17 to $6.70 billion in 2017-18. The presence of Indians is also sizeable and reveals a diverse profile. “There are about 8,00,000 Indians in Oman, of which about 6,66,000 are workers and professionals. Thousands of Indians are working as doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, teachers, lecturers, nurses, managers,” according to the Indian embassy in Oman.

India Inc. has investments in a range of sectors, from iron and steel, cement, and fertilizers, to textile, cables, chemicals, automotive. Some of the prominent Indian firms that have a presence in Oman include L&T, KEC International, Jindal, Shapoorji Pallonji, Shriram, Aditya Birla Group, Nagarjuna Construction Company, the embassy says in its update.