Thursday, Oct 20, 2011
Gulf News
Dubai: India is positioned to become one of the worlds largest economies as the trade corridor with the Middle East is expected to grow 34 per cent by 2013, making it among the fastest growing trade corridors, Nicholas Levitt, HSBCs head of commercial banking UAE, said yesterday.
India is currently ranked as one of the UAEs top ten fastest growing trade corridors alongside Canada, Brazil and Hong Kong, according to the HSBC Trade Forecast released last week. It is expected to be the UAEs largest trading partner by 2025, with trade values estimated at $103.6 billion (Dh380.5 billion) overtaking China, which represented the UAEs largest trading partner in 2010, Levitt said at a forum on trade connections and business potential in relations between the UAE and India.
Huge potential
In the context of the huge potential for trade ties between the two countries, UAE businesses can no longer afford to ignore opportunities in India, said speakers at the forum.
Foreign direct investment flow from the UAE to India stood at $ 17.2 billion between 2005 and 2009 and at $8.6 billion vice versa. Indias exports to the UAE have grown 43 per cent and imports from the UAE to India have grown by 68 per cent in the last two years.
Currently about six per cent of Indias trade transactions are routed through HSBC. Trade has always been at the heart of what we do, said Abdul Fattah Sharaf, CEO, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, UAE.
By Babu Das Augustine, Deputy Business Editor
Gulf News 2011. All rights reserved.
