India-UAE CEPA 2022 will lead to an increase in bilateral trade

The bilateral relationship between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India continues to grow as both countries have signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in 2022 to boost bilateral relations.

UAE is India's third-largest trading partner and the second-largest export destination. The CEPA
will lead to an increase in bilateral trade from the current $60 billion to $100 billion over the next five years.

The agreement also aims to provide jobs to unemployed youth of India. Reportedly, the increased trade is likely to create 10 lakh jobs in India in various sectors that include textiles, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, plastic products, auto and leather products.

CEPA 2022

The government will reduce customs duties on over 1,000 products to zero through the CEPA 2022.

According to Stakeholders, the CEPA can open doors to numerous untapped trade opportunities for various sectors of India.

Indian exporters are likely to make substantial gains under this agreement. Labour-intensive sectors of India such as gems and jewellery, textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture can make a profit under this agreement.

Reportedly, the UAE-India CEPA will benefit around USD 26 billion of Indian products subject to 5 per cent import duty by the UAE. Import duties will also be brought down to zero per cent on 90 per cent of India's export items to the UAE.

Economic cooperation between the UAE-India

India's major export items to the UAE are petroleum products, gems and jewellery, apparel, chemicals, iron and steel, and telecom equipment. The UAE's major export items to India are precious metals, petroleum and petroleum products, gems and jewellery, minerals, chemicals, wood products.

According to the Embassy of India in UAE, India also imported 21.83 MMT (US$ 10,927.52 Million) of crude oil from UAE in 2019-20. India accounts for nearly 14 per cent of the UAE's non-oil exports.