The magnitude of international trade and commerce by one country with other countries largely determines their international relations. We might have often heard about trade embargos being imposed by a country or a group of countries before they take any other action against the country. Countries have always been heavily reliant on international trade because it is not possible to have all the resources in the country. This was not what India chose to do after independence. In order to save its indigenous economy, it made efforts to shut its doors to international trade hence seriously crippling its economy in the 1990’s. we have come a long way from there to become the fastest growing economy in the world right now with huge contribution by international trade.
India has cordial trade relations with almost every nation in the world barring a few. One thing after the 1990’s that India has excelled in is maintaining peaceful relations with other countries which in turn help foreign trade. India has strong trade allies in the form of USA, UK, UAE, Australia and many more.
India’s economic relations with India are on a high right now. Most of our exports go to the United States. The United States is also the largest investment partner of India with a total of $9 billion investment in the year 2016. The investor community in the US are focusing on several areas like IT, infrastructure, telecom industry, biotechnology and many more. America’s interest in the Indian economy is every growing because of our stable and liberal views while other nations are facing turmoil in the Asian sub-continent.
Another strong ally of India in terms of trade is the United Kingdom. Indian private companies and small enterprises play an important role in the UK economy. In the year 2015 Indian companies in UK generated a revenue of 1billion pounds. The UK also has the third highest FDI inflow in India. Recently commercial deals worth 9.3 billion pounds was announced between several Indian and British companies. UK has shown interest in partnering with India to develop smart cities in Indore, Pune and Amravati.
Canada and India enjoy a healthy trade relation with each other. Though there have been such cordial relations still India and Canada fail to increase their respective shares in each other’s economy. India and Canada are currently holding bilateral talks on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) which is certain to boost the trade between each other. During the time of East India Company India was one of the first trading partner of Australia. Australia has an education export from India of about $2 billion dollars, as many Indian students are enrolled in Australia. India and Australia have also recognized a strategic research fund amounting to $100 million. Despite such good relations India and Australia have failed to reach a free trade agreement and all circumstance point to no development in the near future.