India’s exports to UAE may reach $50 bn by FY27

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The meeting of the joint working group will be held in June to discuss review of the trade data under the CEPA between India and the UAE, officials said

India’s exports to UAE, $50 bn by FY27, free trade agreements, India-UAE trade pact, Indian express, indian express newsDuring May-March 2022-23, out of 110 MT of TRQ of gold allocated, only 8.1 MT was imported. (Express Photo)

India hopes to see an increase in exports to the UAE to $50 billion by 2026-27 from $31.3 billion in 2022-23, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said Monday. Speaking on Monday as the first year of implementation of the India-UAE trade pact got completed, Barthwal said India’s utilisation of the trade agreement with the UAE is the second highest among all its free trade agreements (FTA).

The two nations had signed a trade pact in February last year which then came into force on May 1, 2022. In the first year of coming into effect of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), 54,144 certificates of origin were issued between May 2022-March 2023, next only to 1.49 lakh under the India-Asean FTA.

“We are hoping that we would be able to reach $50 billion exports by 2026-27. In the five years of trade after CEPA, I feel that we should be able to reach USD 50 billion in exports,” Barthwal said. Trade between the two countries has gone beyond normal growth for both exports and imports and labour-intensive sectors have seen significant growth, he added.

The meeting of the joint working group will be held in June to discuss review of the trade data under the CEPA between India and the UAE, officials said

India’s exports to the UAE in 2022-23 rose by 11.8 per cent to $31.3 billion, while imports increased by 18.8 per cent to $53.2 billion. Imports of aircraft, spacecraft, and parts from the UAE surged 4,859 per cent year-on-year to $1.93 billion in 2022-23, which officials pointed out happened because UAE is a transit hub and the increase is part of the normal most favoured nation (MFN) tariffs. Oil imports rose by 36 per cent to $27.7 billion, while non-oil imports rose 4.1 per cent to $25.5 billion in FY23.

Exports of automobiles rose by 42 per cent to $715.58 million during 2022-23, while electrical machinery shipments increased by 32 per cent to $3.65 billion. Gems and jewellery exports rose by 17 per cent to $5.8 billion in the last fiscal. However, exports of iron and steel, and apparel recorded negative growth in exports.

Gold imports declined in FY23 due to non-utilisation of the full quota of tariff available under the CEPA, an official said. “With the DGFT opening a fresh window of gold tariff rate quota, the gold imports from UAE should go up,” he said.

India has announced opening up of a fresh window for the import of 140 MT of gold in FY24 from the UAE by manufacturers and traders of gold at a concessional duty of 1 per cent from the MFN rate through an import quota system under the CEPA. During May-March 2022-23, out of 110 MT of TRQ of gold allocated, only 8.1 MT was imported.

© The Indian Express (P) Ltd

First published on: 02-05-2023 at 04:45 IST

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