New Delhi: India’s non-oil exports to the UAE rose by five times in the three months since the implementation of a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) compared to India’s non-petroleum exports to the world during the same period.
The Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry released the findings of a comprehensive study of UAE-India trade since the implementation of the CEPA on May 1 this year.
“The UAE-India CEPA is already creating a significant positive impact on bilateral trade. Indian exports to the UAE, excluding petroleum products, grew from $5.17 billion during June-August last year to $5.92 billion during June-August 2022, which works out to a year-on-year increase of 14 per cent,” the ministry said.
“India’s global non-petroleum exports during June-August 2022 grew by three per cent annually. This implies that the growth rate of India’s non-petroleum exports to the UAE is almost five times as that of India’s non-petroleum exports to the world,” the study revealed.
It is predicted that Indian exports to the UAE will increase further in the coming months with the growing use of the CEPA by exporters. “A series of trade promotion events in the UAE during the current financial year are planned.”
Although the CEPA went into force on May 1, the ministry said the first month of its implementation was not included in the study because it was considered a transition period. Hence, the analysis is for three months, from June to August.
During the same period, India’s imports from the UAE grew from $5.56 billion to $5.61 billion. The trade increase in both directions is significant “in the context of global macro-economic headwinds, including policy tightening in advanced economies, global growth slowdown and a reduction in international merchandise trade”.
With CEPA in place, the volume of UAE-India non-oil trade is expected to touch $100 billion a year within next five years.
The UAE has also signed similar trade agreements with Israel and Indonesia.
The trade and economic agreement with India, Israel and Indonesia will aid UAE exports to these countries exceed $10 billion in the next 10 years, WAM reported earlier.
