India-UAE trade in rupees, dirhams enters double digits: Piyush Goyal

Mumbai: Trade settled in local currencies between India and the UAE has reached double digits, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday, adding that bilateral trade is expected to return to pre-war levels in the next few months.

Goyal said trade between the two countries was "very close" to pre-war levels and should recover and move beyond those levels in the coming months.

The increase in rupee-dirham settlements comes as the two countries seek to sustain trade flows amid geopolitical disruptions and risks to key shipping routes. Goyal said India and the UAE were finding ways to restore trade to pre-war levels and then expand it further.


"Today, there is a lot of trade between India and UAE. We do that trade only in rupees and dirhams," Goyal said after a meeting of the India-UAE High Level Joint Task Force on Investments in Mumbai. Under the local-currency settlement mechanism, Indian exporters can receive payments in rupees and UAE exporters in dirhams, with the currencies converted into dollars periodically if required. The share of trade using the mechanism has been rising as businesses become more familiar with its benefits, Goyal said. "Now, all the traders and investors are getting a complete understanding of its benefits. So, now it is in double digits," he said.

Goyal said the broader geopolitical environment had affected trade, with the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for India's energy and merchandise flows, facing heightened risks. India's merchandise exports nevertheless rose more than 15% in the first six months of the financial year to Sept. 21, he said.

New Delhi: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal will visit the US this week to attend the G20 trade ministers' meeting and hold deliberations with US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer on the proposed bilateral trade agreement, the government said on Monday.

The bilateral meeting will be "part of ongoing efforts to advance a balanced and mutually beneficial India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) and finalise an interim deal in line with the joint statement of February 7, 2026," the commerce and industry ministry said. Goyal will visit the US from September 29-October 5.