UAE is second biggest export market for India

Monday, 05 May 2003, 19:30 IST   |    2 Comments
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NEW DELHI: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as the second biggest export market for India after the U.S., says a top business body here. While the U.S. remains India's top export destination, it is followed by the UAE as the second most important market, followed by Britain, Hong Kong and Germany. The UAE has emerged as one of the five most important markets, registering 34.37 percent growth to garner a 6.46 percent share of Indian exports in 2002-03, up from 5.68 percent in the previous fiscal, states the report released here Sunday by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham). It says Indian exports to other Asian nations have shown a massive 30 percent growth in 2002-03. "Asian countries now constitute over a quarter of the total Indian exports," says the study. The trend for various regions shows highest growth in exports to Asian countries followed by North America, South America and west European countries. Exports to Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have registered a decline, despite a special India focus in these regions. The study reveals that exports to developing countries increased more in relation to developed and advanced economies. The report stares, "More specifically, exports to countries in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and China have risen drastically." One of the reasons for this robust export performance in the Asian region is that throughout 2002-03 this developing region has been a rare centre of growth in a subdued global economy. "However, SARS may hit growth of this region in the current financial year. Growth in the Middle East may be impacted by the continuing uncertainty in the aftermath of the Iraq war. These two events could collectively pull down the demand for Indian commodities in Asia in the medium term," the report cautions. Assocham has urged the government to take urgent measures to reduce the impact of these events on exports. Contrary to fears, the report notes China's share in India's exports has increased sharply and it is now one of India's major trading partners. "It can be said that there has been a marked increase in exports to China after its entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Indian industry should exploit the opportunities thrown up by the huge Chinese market," the report states. Assocham conducted an analysis of the changes in the geographic distribution of merchandise exports to study the export growth pattern for both traditional and non-traditional commodities from India to various regions and countries during 2002-03. West Europe's share of India's total exports has declined marginally by 0.5 percent. This is despite a 15.4 percent growth of exports to the region during this period. On the other hand, the share of east Europe has remained unaltered. On the whole, exports to Europe in value terms have increased by 15.43 percent but the share of European countries in India's exports has declined 0.6 percent. Overall while India's exports witnessed 18.05 percent growth in 2002-03, to cross the $51 billion mark, a sharp increase of 21 percent in the dollar value of oil imports and 12 percent increase in non-oil imports during this period increased the size of its trade deficit. "The latest figure of trade deficit for 2002-03 has been estimated at $7.6 billion. Therefore, the government needs to boost exports so that India's trade deficit can be reduced," the Assocham report states.
Source: IANS