India’s Exports to Australia declined after the Free trade agreement

India exported goods worth 7.23 billion US dollars to Australia between January and November 2023, down from 7.62 billion US dollars in the same period last year, latest data from the commerce department revealed.

The slight fall was largely caused due to the lower value of petroleum product exports, which account for over 50 per cent of the value of India’s exports to Australia. Indian goods exports have declined globally owing to sluggish demand in the backdrop of geopolitical tensions and high inflation.

At a press conference in New Delhi, a Commerce department official was quoted by media reports as saying exports of engineering goods, electronics, apparel, and pharmaceuticals went up after India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) came into effect on December 29 last year.

Between January and November 2023, exports of engineering goods increased to 1,280.06 million US dollars against 1,257.39 million US dollars in the same period last year. Exports of drugs and pharmaceuticals were at 422.28 million US dollars against 372.39 million US dollars, and exports of readymade textiles rose to 289.73 million US dollars compared to 275.85 million US dollars.

 â€œThe free trade agreement with Australia was done seeing the comparative advantages, and industry has been making use of the same. There are early signs of export growth in the areas where there were preferential tariffs,” Rajesh Agarwal, Additional Secretary in the Commerce Ministry, said during the press briefing.

Australia’s foreign direct investments (FDI) in India have however jumped from an average 30-40 million to 300 million US dollars this year.