3.3. Economy: Trade and Investment

♤ India-UAE bilateral relationship has evolved into a significant partnership in the economic and commercial sphere. India-UAE trade is around US$ 52 billion (2016-17) making India the largest trading partner of UAE, while UAE is India’s third largest trading partner (after China and US).

♤ UAE is the second largest export destination of India of over US$ 30 billion for the year 2016-17.

♤ Investment: There is an estimated US$ 8 billion UAE investment in India of which around US$ 4.03 billion (Mar. 2016) is in the form of foreign direct investment, while the remaining is portfolio investment.

♤ UAE is the tenth biggest investor in India in terms of FDI. UAE’s investments in India are concentrated mainly in five sectors: Services (10.33%), Construction Development (9.97%), Power (9.54%), Air Transport (8.44%) and Hotel & Tourism (7.82%).