According to India’s Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal, the country intends to raise its exports to the UAE from $31.3 billion in 2022–23 to $50 billion by 2026–27. Speaking on Monday as the first year of the India-UAE trade agreement’s implementation came to a close, Barthwal said that India’s use of the UAE trade agreement ranks second among all of its free trade agreements (FTAs).
A trade agreement between the two countries was struck in February of last year, and it became effective on May 1st, 2022. Only 1.49 lakh certificates of origin were issued under the India-Asean Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the first year after the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) went into effect, with 54,144 issued between May 2022 and March 2023.Our hope is that we would ability to export goods worth $50 billion by 2026–2027. I believe that we should be able to export $50 billion in the five years following the CEPA,” said Barthwal. According to him, trade between the two nations has grown faster than usual for both exports and imports, and labor-intensive industries have experienced notable expansion.In 2022–2023, India’s exports to the UAE increased by 11.8% to $31.3 billion, while its imports jumped by 18.8% to $53.2 billion. As a result of the UAE’s role as a transit hub and the increase in normal most-favorable-nation (MFN) tariffs, officials noted that imports of aircraft, spacecraft, and components from the UAE increased 4,859% annually to $1.93 billion in 2022–2023. In FY23, non-oil imports increased by 4.1% to $25.5 billion, while oil imports increased by 36.0% to $27.7 billion.
In 2022–2023, shipments of electrical machinery increased by 32% to $3.65 billion, while exports of autos surged by 42% to $715.58 million. In the most recent fiscal year, exports of gems and jewellery increased by 17% to $5.8 billion. However, exports of iron and steel as well as clothing saw a decline.India has announced the creation of a new window to allow makers and merchants of gold to import 140 MT of gold from the UAE in FY24 at a concessional tariff of 1% from the MFN rate under an import quota system under the CEPA. May through March Only 8.1 MT of the 110 MT of TRQ gold that was allocated in 2022–2023 was imported.
Gold imports decreased in FY23 as a result of not using the entire tariff limit allowed by the CEPA, according to an official. The DGFT introducing a new window of gold tariff rate quota should increase imports of gold from the UAE, he claimed.
