India’s imports from its free trade agreement partner UAE have jumped 109.57 per cent year-on-year to USD 6.12 billion in November, leaving a trade deficit of over USD 3 billion during the said month, according to the commerce ministry data.
India’s exports to the UAE rose by 11.38 per cent to USD 3 billion in the last month.
Cumulatively, the imports from the UAE during April-November rose by 60.84 per cent to USD 44.76 billion against USD 27.83 billion in the same period previous fiscal, while exports were up by 15.25 per cent year-on-year to USD 23.94 billion compared to USD 20.77 billion in April-November 2023-24.
The FTA between India and the UAE came into effect in May 2022.
The UAE is the third-largest trading partner of India with USD 83.65 billion bilateral trade in 2023-24.
The major goods imported include mineral oil, chemicals, essential oils and perfumes, precious and semi-precious stones, iron and steel products, copper, nickel and aluminium goods.
Further, as per the data, China was India’s top import source with USD 74.68 billion, about a 10 per cent year-on-year increase, worth of inbound shipments during the first eight months of this fiscal.
Exports to China, however, dipped by 10.28 per cent to USD 9.22 billion.
The top 10 import sources of India were China, Russia, the UAE, the US, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Korea, Switzerland and Singapore, the data showed.
Imports from Russia rose by 9.22 per cent to USD 43.91 billion during April-November this fiscal from USD 40.2 billion a year ago.
During the period, the US emerged as the top export destination for the country with outbound shipments increasing by 5.27 per cent to USD 52.94 billion.
During April-November 2024-25, the top ten export destinations of the country were the US, the UAE, the Netherlands, the UK, China, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Germany and Australia.
In 2023-24, the US was India’s largest trading partner, followed by China.
China was India’s top trading partner from 2013-14 till 2017-18 and in 2020-21. Before China, the UAE was the country’s largest trading partner. The US was also India’s largest trading partner in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
