Indo-US two-way trade touches $ 31.92 billion
New
Delhi,
Mar
18:
The
bilateral
trade
between
the
United
States
and
India
for
the
calendar
year
January-December
2006,
touched
31.92
billion
dollars,
registering
an
increase
of
19.12
per
cent
over
the
previous
year.
This
has
tipped
the
balance
of
trade
in
favour
of
India
by
11.74
billion
dollars,
according
to
the
data
compiled
by
the
Indo-American
Chamber
of
Commerce
(IACC).
IACC
points
out
the
US
exports
to
India
increased
by
26.31
per
cent
from
7.99
billion
dollars
to
10.09
billion
dollars
and
the
US
imports
from
India
crossed
21.82
billion
dollars
from
18.80
billion
dollars,
an
increase
of
16.07
per
cent
for
the
same
period
over
previous
year.
The
increase
in
US
exports
to
India
is
significant
on
account
of
the
concern
expressed
by
the
US
that
its
imports
to
India
have
plateaued.
For
bilateral
trade
to
grow,
it
is
important
that
both
imports
and
exports
between
the
two
countries
should
grow
in
a
balanced
manner.
IACC
has
been
acting
as
a
facilitating
body
for
promotion
of
two-way
trade
by
bringing
importers
and
exporters
of
both
countries
together.
In
order
to
promote
regional
trading,
India
has
embarked
upon
signing
of
Free
Trade
Agreements
(FTAs),
Regional
Trade
Agreements
(RTAs),
Preferential
Tariff
Areas
(PTAs)
with
many
countries
and
regions.
These
include
Indo-Asean
Free
Trade
Agreement,
India-Korea,
Indo-Japan
and
others
which
are
at
various
stages
of
negotiations.
The
Indian
Government
and
the
administrations
of
the
respective
countries
and
regions
are
engaged
in
consultations
to
identify
goods
that
will
attract
zero
duty,
goods
that
will
be
put
into
the
sensitive
and
negative
lists.
Given
the
fact
that
the
US
is
India's
largest
trade
and
investment
partner,
IACC
said
that
a
free
trade
arrangement
should
be
explored
between
the
two
countries,
which
should
promote
bilateral
trade
and
investment
to
help
businesses
of
both
the
countries.
''Sometime
back
a
proposal
was
mooted
to
explore
the
feasibility
of
a
free
trade
agreement
between
India
and
the
US
in
the
IT
segment.
It
is
necessary
that
beneficial
effect
of
such
agreements
to
both
the
countries
should
be
thoroughly
explored
and
implemented
over
a
time
frame,''
says
IACC.
It
is
necessary
to
work
on
these
ideas
well
in
advance
since
there
are
many
imponderables
like
duty
structure,
tariff
protection
etc
that
have
to
be
worked
out,
which
are
quite
time
consuming.
It
is
also
necessary
to
bear
in
mind
that
the
Indo-Asean
Free
Trade
Agreement
will
finally
be
operative
in
2018,
although
the
negotiations
on
the
various
aspects
of
the
agreement
has
already
started.
UNI