MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: India’s concerns over the surge in silver imports from the UAE after implementation of the bilateral trade agreement will be taken up at a joint meeting next week.
“We have a joint trade committee that works on these issues. We are meeting in the UAE next week and it will be raised there. I have already discussed this issue with my counterpart, Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi. “We are in talks with India and the UAE has assured us that there will be no harm to India’s business and trade interests,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters.
Silver imports from the UAE surged from $29 million in 2022-2023 to $1.7 billion in the previous financial year, amid concerns over gaps in the implementation of rules of origin.
However, both governments are positive about progress on a trade agreement. India and the UAE are also working on interlinking their two national payment platforms, UPI (India) and AANI (UAE), to facilitate seamless cross-border transactions between the two countries.
Goyal also announced at the press conference that India and the UAE will invest more than $2 billion over two to two and a half years to establish a food corridor to help improve incomes and create jobs for Indian farmers. Discussions also included plans to establish food parks in the country.
“The UAE is very keen to invest in setting up food processing facilities in India so that they can use the produce of Indian farmers and sell quality products in India that are suitable for the UAE. It has been discussed for a long time,” the minister said after a meeting of the India-UAE Investment High-Level Task Force.
Goyal did not specify the timing, but said UAE investments could reach $100 billion and flow into multiple sectors, including infrastructure and manufacturing. The UAE had pledged to invest up to $75 billion in India in 2018. The UAE is India’s third largest trading partner after the US and China, with bilateral trade valued at $85 billion in 2023-24. The UAE is the second largest export destination for Indian goods, with exports valued at $35.6 billion and a trade deficit of $12.4 billion, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce.