Dubai: Gulf sovereign funds invested $1.7 billion in India in the first half of 2026, defying heightened geopolitical tensions due to the Iran war and fears the conflict would curb their appetite for overseas deals. It was the most for half a year after 2024. The region’s share in overall investment in the country by sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and public pension funds (PPFs) during the period nearly doubled since then, underscoring their growing role as a long-term capital.These funds made the investment across four transactions, nearly three times the $600 million spent in the second half of 2025, and more than double the $700 million deployed in the first half of 2025, showed data shared by industry tracker Global SWF. Data showed funds invested $53.9 billion via 108 transactions globally in January-June.Also Read: Gulf NRIs are dumping real estate, and betting big on India’s stock marketLong-term Structural ThemeThis marks the highest ever deployment in value terms and is notably contrary to expectations that Gulf governments could divert sovereign wealth capital towards domestic spending, potentially slowing overseas investments.India accounted for 3% of total capital deployed by Gulf sovereign investors.“Since Iranian rockets first struck the Gulf countries on February 28, analysts have been looking for signs of slowdown by Gulf SWFs,” said Global SWF in its latest half yearly report, GSR Scoreboard 2026. “The reality is that…it is business as usual for these vehicles.” The report highlighted that even if governments were to withdraw some capital from these funds to finance potential deficits, such as during Covid-19, these bailouts would take time, usually, a few quarters, and would be quickly recovered as long as crude oil production continues.The strong investment flows come amid deepening India-UAE ties. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s UAE visit in May, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority announced $1 billion investment in India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund.“Among Gulf investors, ADIA and PIF are likely to be the most active in India over the medium term, given the new offices,” said Diego Lopez, founder and managing director at Global SWF. In terms of sectors of interest, he noted that Gulf sovereign funds continue to prioritise long-term structural themes, rather than short-term market cycles.“Gulf SWFs are sophisticated investors that look for sectors and businesses shaping mega-trends,” he said. “In that context, they will still be interested in Indian infrastructure but also in consumer, healthcare and technology.”India has been pitching itself as a long-term destination for sovereign capital through policy initiatives such as Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, infrastructure investment trusts and production-linked incentive schemes.Collectively managing around $5.9 trillion in assets, Gulf sovereign funds injected nearly half of their first half 2026 investment into the US, followed by the UK (8%). Singapore and the UAE accounted for 4% each.The most popular sector was technology, media and telecommunications, driven by participation in the large funding rounds of Anthropic (series G and H), and xAI/SpaceX (series E and IPO). It was followed by infrastructure, financials, and retail and consumer. These trends may continue for the remainder of the year for SWFs, according to the tracker.