Indo-US goods trade seen at $16 bn this year

Indo-US goods trade seen at $16 bn this year Press Trust of India
New Delhi, December 4

Merchandise trade between India and the US is poised to touch $16 billion this year as per trends witnessed during the first nine months, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"Going by the trends during the first nine months, merchandise trade between the two countries is expected to touch $16 billion," Joint Secretary in Ministry of External Affairs, Jayant Prasad said at a FICCI meeting.

Stating the trade was tilted in India's favour, he said IT exports from India to US have surged to $5.7 billion from $4.8 billion last year.

He said estimates of US' export of services to India was valued at $3.1 billion, of which half a billion dollars was accounted for by American companies based in India.

Identifying defence as another vital area of cooperation, Prasad said during 1999-2000, US had exported a mere $ 4 million worth of spares to India while direct commercial sales was $175 million.

"This has been exceeded after normalisation of relations," he said but did not reveal the amount.

He said US and Indian investors had a perceptional problem about investing in each other's country which was acting as an obstacle in increasing trade.