Rupee-dirham non-oil trade could be implemented sooner than other deals: Indian Ambassador

The rupee-dirham non-oil trade could be implemented sooner than any other similar deal, said India’s ambassador to the UAE, Mr. Sunjay Sudhir.

Mr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, the UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said that the UAE and India are discussing ways to boost non-oil trade in the countries’ local currencies. He added that it is still in the early-stage discussions and is only going to focus on non-oil trade.

Remittances from the UAE account for about 17-18% of India’s total inward remittances. In FY21, the remittances amounted to US$ 87 billion, nearly 2.75% of the gross domestic product (GDP).

“UAE is India’s third largest trading partner, and our current trade value is at US$ 88 billion, we might as well do it in local currency,” said the Ambassador. He added that fintech is one of the sectors that the UAE and India are working on very closely.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) earlier stated that it will now allow Non-Resident Indians (NRI) from 10 countries, including the UAE to make payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Food security is the most critical concern for the UAE, said Mr. Essa Abdulla Al Ghurair, Chairman, Essa Al Ghurair Investment, while addressing the India-UAE Partnership Summit in Mumbai. If India could fulfil this vision, that will be a very important step to cement this bilateral partnership, he added. He also urged Indian companies to use Dubai and UAE as a platform to showcase their work to the world and capitalise on them.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.