CEPA impact: India’s non-petroleum exports to UAE up 14% in June-August

The government on Sunday said that India’s non-petroleum exports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) grew 14% on year to $5.92 billion during June-August, from $5.17 billion a year ago. In a statement, the commerce and industry ministry said that India’s exports are likely to increase further in the coming months, with increasing use by exporters of the the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement which kicked in on May 1and is already creating a “significant positive impact” on the trade.

“It is pertinent to note that India’s global non-petroleum exports during the same period (Jun-Aug 2022) grew by 3% on an annual basis,” the ministry said, adding that this implies the growth rate of India’s non-petroleum exports to the UAE is almost 5 times as that of India’s non-petroleum exports to the world.

Excluding petroleum related imports, Indian imports from the UAE during the same three-month period grew to $5.61 billion in June-August from $5.56billion in the year ago period.


The government said that that India’s non-oil export growth of around 14% on year-on-year basis comes in the context of significant macroeconomic headwinds such as conflict in Ukraine, COVID-19 related lockdowns in China, rising inflationary pressures, expected Policy tightening in advanced economies, global growth slowdown and consequent reduced demand, and reduction in global merchandize trade.

As per the ministry, the month of May was excluded from analysis as it is considered as a transitory period. Moreover, oil trade has not been considered as import increase in oil/petroleum products is largely on account of the rise in global prices and to a certain extent on an increase offtake in volumes.

“Further, it is pertinent to mention that bulk of the oil imports from the UAE are of Crude Petroleum, the demand for which is inelastic and the customs duty for which is very low,” it said.