‘FTA to help India’s UAE exports reach $50 bn by FY27’

NEW DELHI: India’s exports to the UAE will reach $50 billion by 2026 because of the implementation of the free trade agreement last year in May, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said Monday. While India’s exports to the UAE in FY23 grew by nearly 12% to $ 31.3 billion, imports registered a growth of 18.8% to $53.2 billion in the same year.

Non-oil imports from the country grew by only 4% since last year. “There has been significant growth in the India-UAE trade after the FTA was signed between both countries last year. We are hoping that we will be able to reach $50 billion in exports by 2026-27,” the commerce secretary said.

During FY23, growth in India’s overall exports was 5.3%; excluding the UAE, India’s global exports surged at 4.8%. Some of the key sectors, including labour-intensive sectors, which registered impressive export growth due to the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) include mineral fuels, electrical machinery (particularly telephone equipment), gems & jewellery, automobiles (transport vehicles segment), essential oils/perfumes/cosmetics (beauty/skincare products); other machinery; cereals (Rice), coffee/tea/spices, etc.

Under the India-UAE CEPA, the UAE eliminated duties on 97.4% of its tariff lines corresponding to 99% of goods imported from India. India has obtained immediate duty elimination on over 80% of its tariff lines corresponding to 90% of India’s exports in value terms. Most of these tariff lines correspond to labor-intensive industries/sectors like oil seeds & oils, beverages, cotton, fish & fish products, textiles, clothing, gems and jewellery, leather, footwear, pharma and many engineering products. Meanwhile, in the services domain, India has offered 100 sub-sectors (out of 160) to the UAE and the UAE has offered 111 sub-sectors to India.