Indian Government Encourages Investment In the EU, Says MJ Akbar

Minister of State MJ Akbar believes India and Europe have a lot of things in common. And the trade between the two countries should be everlasting, ever growing and the Indian government is keen for that to happen.

Speaking today at the fourth India-Europe 29 Business Forum Akbar said: " Indian businesses are becoming a significant investment in Europe and our government is highly supportive of that."

"India-Europe share a lot in common. The last hundred years have seen the history of somersault for India and for Europe."

Akbar also praised the initiatives of the current government in putting India at the forefront of business and making it investment friendly from countries across the globe.

"Our government is trying to change the balance of powers in the society and building a new India," Akbar added further.

India is currently the fastest growing economy in the world and a strategic partner for EU. It represents a sizeable and dynamic market. For these reasons, EU and India are committed to further increase their bi lateral trade investment through an FTA( Free Trade Agreement). The negotiations for which were launched in 2007.

Substantial progress has been made in this area and several rounds of talks have been held for the same. Discussions are currently focused on key outstanding issues that include improved market access for some goods and services.

Indo-EU Trade Picture  

As per the data from European Commission:

"    The EU is India's number one trading partner (13.5% of India's overall trade with the world in 2015-16), well ahead of China (10.8%), USA (9.3%), UAE (7.7%) and Saudi Arabia (4.3%).
"    India is the EU's 9th trading partner in 2016 (2.2% of EU's overall trade with the world), after South Korea (2.5%) and ahead of Canada (1.9%).
"    The value of EU exports to India grew from €24.2 billion in 2006 to €37.8 billion in 2016, with engineering goods, gems and jewellery, other manufactured goods and chemicals ranking at the top.
"    The value of EU imports from India also increased from €22.6 billion in 2006 to €39.3 billion in 2016, with at the top textiles and clothing, chemicals and engineering goods.
"    Trade in services almost tripled in the past decade, increasing from €10.5billion in 2005 to €28.1 billion in 2015.
"    EU investment stocks in India amounted to €51.2 billion in 2015, increasing from €44.2 billion in the previous year.