Prospects of India–GCC Trade Relations
| DOI | 10.1177/0015732516663318 |
| Date | 01 May 2017 |
| Published date | 01 May 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Commentary |
Prospects of India–GCC
Trade Relations: An
Empirical Investigation
Imran Alam1
Shahid Ahmed1
Abstract
India–Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries trade relation has intensified
in the last two decades. GCC is one of the largest trading partners of India. In
this paper, an attempt has been made to explore India’s trade potential with
GCC countries at HS-2 digit for the period 2001–2014. Various trade indices
have been calculated to infer about mutual trade potential. The findings of this
study reveal that India’s trade is more intense with GCC countries as compared
to its trading patterns with rest of the world. This study shows that there are
several sectors in which India has an opportunity to increase its trade with
GCC countries. Overall results shows that India’s trade relation with GCC
countries is increasing continuously but still there is lot of untapped potential
to increase the welfare gains for both partners. Finally, the study concludes that
the proposed economic integration in terms of a free trade agreement between
India and GCC will be mutual welfare enhancing and a case of win–win situation.
JEL: F10, F13, F14, F15
Keywords
Indo-GCC trade, trade potential, trade intensity index, revealed comparative
advantage
Introduction
One of the major factors in exploring a favourable trade relation is the location
of the trading partner that would give a sense of security owing to the transpor-
tation involved and it needs to be economically viable on the first hand. The
Foreign Trade Review
52(2) 118–129
2017 Indian Institute of
Foreign Trade
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0015732516663318
http://ftr.sagepub.com
Corresponding author:
Imran Alam, Department of Economics, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University) New Delhi – 110025,
India.
E-mail: imranalam.eco@gmail.com
1Department of Economics, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University), New Delhi, India.
Commentary
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