India's FTA partner imports increased by 38% in the 2019–24 fiscal years: GTRI

However, the nation's exports to its partners in free trade agreements increased 14.48%, from USD 107.20 billion in 2018–19 to USD 122.72 billion in 2023–24.

According to think tank GTRI, India's imports of commodities from nations with whom it has free trade agreements, such as the UAE, South Korea, and Australia, increased by almost 38% to USD 187.92 billion between the 2019–24 fiscal years.

However, the nation's exports to its partners in free trade agreements increased 14.48%, from USD 107.20 billion in 2018–19 to USD 122.72 billion in 2023–24.

"In the fiscal year 2019–2024, India's imports climbed from USD 136.20 billion to USD 187.92 billion, a 37.97% rise. The statistics from the Global Trade Research Initiative demonstrated that "this growth highlights the significant as well as impact of free trade negotiations on India's global trade dynamics."

The data shows that although India's imports climbed by 61.21 percent, from USD 29.79 billion in FY2019 to USD 48.02 billion in the most recent fiscal year, its exports to the UAE increased by 18.25 percent to USD 35.63 billion in 2023–24 from USD 30.13 billion in 2018–19.

In May 2022, the India-UAE Free Trade Area came into force.

Likewise, the nation's exports to Australia—with whom the temporary trade agreement entered into effect in December 2022—more than quadrupled, rising from USD 3.52 billion in 2018–19 to USD 7.94 billion in 2023–2024.

Australia's imports increased by 23.06 percent in the previous fiscal year, from USD 13.13 billion to USD 16.16 billion.

Exports to the ten-nation ASEAN region of Southeast Asia climbed by almost 10% from USD 37.47 billion in FY-2019 to USD 41.21 billion in the most recent fiscal year. From USD 59.32 billion to USD 79.67 billion, imports increased by 34.3%.

According to the statistics, India's imports surged by 26.12% from USD 16.76 billion to USD 21.14 billion during the previous five fiscal years, while its outbound exports to South Korea jumped by 36.38 percent from USD 4.71 billion to USD 6.42 billion.

The comprehensive economic cooperation agreement between South Korea and India went into effect in 2011.

While imports increased by 38.56% from USD 12.77 billion to USD 17.70 billion, exports to Japan increased by a meagre 6.06 percent, from USD 4.86 billion in 2018–19 to USD 5.16 billion in 2023–24. The 2011 FTA between Japan and India went into effect.

With a 1.8% share of global commerce in exports, India came in at number 17 overall. The nation is placed eighth in terms of imports, accounting for 2.8% of all international commerce.

India's goods exports decreased by 3.11 percent to USD 437.1 billion in 2023–24, while the country's imports decreased by 5.4% to USD 677.2 billion during the same fiscal year.

Ajay Srivastava is one of GTRI's co-founders. In March 2022, he received VRS from the Government of India. He was an Indian Trade Service official with expertise in WTO and FTA negotiations, as well as trade policy formulation.