On 19 August 2026 in Dubai, Dubai Chambers and India's Nasscom (National Association of Software and Service Companies) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation in agentic AI. Dubai Chambers was represented by Salem AlShamsi, Executive Vice President, International Relations; the signing was witnessed by President and CEO H.E. Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah. Nasscom represents more than 3,500 Indian tech member companies across an industry estimated at approximately $315 billion. Primary source — Dubai Chambers via WAM (UAE state news agency).
What was signed — in substance
- Date and place: 19 August 2026, Dubai.
- Parties: Dubai Chambers and Nasscom (Noida, India).
- Signatory for Dubai Chambers: Salem AlShamsi, Executive Vice President, International Relations.
- Witness: H.E. Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, President and CEO, Dubai Chambers.
- Instrument: Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) — a preliminary framework agreement.
- Subject: cooperation in agentic AI.
Work streams under the MOU:
- Build strategic partnerships across the stakeholders of the agentic AI innovation ecosystems in Dubai and India.
- Exchange knowledge and expertise.
- Support leading Indian companies in agentic AI and deeptech to establish and expand from Dubai.
- Organise specialised business events and joint initiatives.
- Drive engagement between companies, investors and entrepreneurs across the two markets.
What agentic AI is — and why it matters to Dubai
Agentic AI is a class of AI systems that autonomously execute multi-step tasks and take intermediate decisions, rather than simply answering a single query. The difference from a classic chatbot is fundamental: a chatbot replies to the user; an agentic AI agent processes the request, checks the data, initiates the payment, files the task to the warehouse and reports back. It is precisely this operational difference that makes agentic AI a priority technology for both government and the private sector: routine and semi-structured processes can be delegated to an AI agent, freeing people for judgment calls.
Practical scenarios currently in play in the UAE:
- customer service and sales cycle — from inbound request to a completed order;
- document processing — KYC, contracts, invoices, bank onboarding paperwork;
- government processes — applications, licences, permits, status updates;
- procurement and compliance — supplier comparisons, counterparty checks, policy compliance;
- tier-1 and tier-2 tech support;
- HR — first-pass candidate screening, onboarding, paperwork.
Nasscom: who they are and what they bring to the UAE
Nasscom — the National Association of Software and Service Companies — is headquartered in Noida (Uttar Pradesh, India). It is the Indian tech industry's national trade association: more than 3,500 member companies together representing an industry estimated at approximately $315 billion — one of the largest technology clusters in the world. Nasscom is not a state body but a business association; even so, its weight in the dialogue between India's tech sector and outside partners is exceptionally high — most large export contracts of Indian IT companies benefit from Nasscom's involvement as a communications channel.
For the UAE, the value of the agreement is direct access to the «funnel» of Indian agentic AI and deeptech companies. Instead of ad-hoc conversations with individual vendors, Dubai gets an institutional channel: Nasscom sees its members, is prepared to represent them, and can help set up contacts and joint events. For an Indian company whose strategy includes entering the Gulf, having this channel cuts the cost and time of the first market approach by a large multiple.
How this fits the UAE's agentic AI agenda
The MOU plugs into two larger frames already set earlier in 2026.
April 2026 — the federal target. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced the target: 50% of UAE federal government services to run on AI agents within two years. Technically this is the shift from «process digitised» to «process autonomously executed by an AI agent». The government has been explicit: such systems will support decision-making, raise the efficiency and quality of services, evaluate outcomes and roll in improvements in real time. This is a «change the operating model of the state» order of task, and it requires engineering and product expertise at scale — which the country is assembling through partnerships and internal programmes.
May–June 2026 — Dubai's two-year plan and the Executive Committee. In May 2026 Dubai laid out a two-year plan for AI adoption in the private sector — Dubai Chambers is training its business councils on agentic AI tracks. In June 2026 a dedicated Executive Committee for Agentic AI was formed within Dubai Chambers — a working body tasked with:
- approving training tracks in agentic AI;
- setting up incubators for agentic AI companies;
- supporting developers of agentic AI solutions (funding-programme support, access to pilots, structured guidance programmes).
The Nasscom agreement is a direct tool of this committee: Indian companies plug into incubators, training and pilot pipelines through a channel they know well — their home trade association. The broader context on business digitalisation in the UAE and the tools already in play is covered separately in Digital communication tools for UAE business.
What it means for business
For an Indian tech company planning UAE entry
The MOU does not replace the legal procedure for setting up a business in the UAE — the company still chooses a free zone (DIFC, DMCC, DIC, DIEZ and others) or mainland, obtains its licence, opens a bank account and processes visas. What actually changes is the first «soft entry»: access to Dubai Chambers business councils and participation in specialised events flow through a channel the Indian company understands well (Nasscom), and the time from landing in Dubai to a first meeting with a prospective client or partner shrinks. For agentic AI and deeptech firms, the Executive Committee for Agentic AI opens a dedicated door — incubators, pilot access, help lining up UAE customers. A separate topic is the form of presence: some prefer a branch, others a 100% subsidiary. For a rundown of full foreign ownership in the mainland see — 100% foreign ownership in the UAE: where and how to set up without a local partner.
For a UAE company sourcing agentic AI solutions
The market will expand faster than it would have without the agreement — an organised (not ad-hoc) inflow of Indian developers grows the pool of integration partners, SaaS agent vendors and custom-development contractors. Practically, the entry cost of an agentic AI pilot for a mid-market business is likely to fall: competition and the Indian developer pipeline put downward pressure on pricing. Practical step — pick one distinct process (inbound client requests, KYC for a new client, document handling) and run a pilot on that. The mistake most companies make is to try to «put AI into everything» at once; nothing ships. A narrow pilot with a hard metric («cut client-onboarding time from 40 to 8 minutes») is the working path.
For a founder or investor
The agreement is a sector-priority signal: the government and business associations are investing deliberately in agentic AI, building infrastructure (incubators, training, pilots) tuned to a specific technology class. That creates a «window» for startups and SaaS companies working in the agentic AI niche — Indian and local alike. Investors should look at companies that already ship a working agent product with a real scenario (not a «demo agent» on slides) and consider how to accelerate their growth through Dubai infrastructure. The wider frame on the technology sector and digital readiness in the UAE is in Digital communication tools for UAE business.
Strategic frame: why India is the key partner
India is the world's largest supplier of engineering and development expertise; UAE–India is one of the leading bilateral trade corridors in the region, reinforced by the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA, in force since 2022), the very large Indian diaspora in the UAE (Indians are the largest foreign community in the Emirates) and a high share of India–UAE deals in the business-setup pipeline. Formal UAE–India cooperation on artificial intelligence officially started back in 2018; in June 2026 the two sides agreed on steps for a joint agentic AI plan, with New Delhi's IndiaAI portal as the expertise-distribution channel. The August 2026 Dubai Chambers × Nasscom MOU is the concrete operational layer on top of this broader frame.
Bottom line
On 19 August 2026 Dubai Chambers and Nasscom signed an MOU on cooperation in agentic AI. The document sets the frame for strategic partnerships, expertise exchange, support of Indian agentic AI and deeptech companies in Dubai, and organisation of specialised business initiatives. The MOU sits on top of federal and Emirate-level programmes already in flight: the 50%-of-services-on-AI-agents target within two years (April 2026), Dubai's two-year private-sector AI plan (May 2026) and the Dubai Chambers Executive Committee for Agentic AI (June 2026 — incubators, training tracks, developer support). Practical takeaway — the expansion of Indian tech companies into the UAE will accelerate, and the choice of agentic AI solutions available to UAE business will widen. The legal procedure for registering a business in the UAE is not changed by the agreement — it remains standard; what changes is the speed and quality of the first «soft entry» through Nasscom's institutional channel and Dubai Chambers' infrastructure.
This article is informational and does not constitute legal, tax or investment advice. Confirm exact terms for UAE business registration, participation in Dubai Chambers Executive Committee for Agentic AI incubators and documentation requirements with a qualified adviser and the relevant free zone or mainland regulator.
