The export chain of India to other countries is now undergoing a metamorphosis in post-pandemic years. India’s merchandise exports to all destinations grew 19.5 per cent in the first five months of this fiscal to $196.5 billion, and a handful of countries have had a major role to play in this. The Netherlands may be a small country but it is mighty in the export chain as it has emerged as India’s third-largest export destination after having jumped two ranks ahead of China and Bangladesh, in the list of India’s top 10 export destinations since the financial year having seen a 106 per cent increase in dispatches until August FY22 compared to 2021.

A good year so far for Indian exports

This sudden change was mainly because India’s exports to the Netherlands were steered by an almost 238 per cent jump in dispatches of oil products until August this fiscal year amounting to $3.67 billion. Along with this, the export supplies of chemicals at $513 million and pharmaceuticals at 219 million remained substantial. Reports suggest, garment exports from India to the Netherlands are too will see good growth in the current year. In the first half of 2022, exports increased to $352.153 million, compared to $264.219 million in H2, 2021 and $227.767 million of H1, 2021. What’s more, in Netherland’s apparel imports, India moved up from tenth to sixth position in the first half of 2022.

Meanwhile, the US and the UAE continue to be the largest and second-largest overall export destinations for India, respectively, for India and are expected to be that way for quite some more years. The exports to the US increased to 18.3 per cent until August to $35.2 billion, while those to the UAE shot up 27.3 per cent to $13.8 billion in the same period.

The second surprise element in the export chain is that of Brazil, the world’s fifth largest country size-wise, which earlier occupied the 21st spot in FY22, but has now leapt to becoming India’s 8th biggest export market. Export shipment to Brazil sprung to 70.9 per cent in the first five months of this fiscal year amounting to $4.7 billion.

The going has been good so far for India exports around the globe. Exports to Indonesia also increased by 43 per cent to $4.8 billion.

China’s export lapses, wellness tourism to be cashed upon

China is one of the only countries to which exports dropped from India. It fell almost 35.6 per cent until August this fiscal to $6.8 billion. This was mainly due to China’s pandemic worsening with new variants and local outbreaks spreading and major port cities going under quarantine. For India, now is the time to act to make a windfall while China’s stakes are down.

India’s export-to-GDP ratio has grown quickly since the early 1990s and is now almost the same as China, a country that is regarded as the world’s number one exporter of goods, despite being a poor country a decade ago. More than the supply of goods and commodities, it is the supply of business services exports that has been stellar.

India’s share of global services trade has almost quadrupled from 0.5 per cent in 1995 to 3.5 per cent in 2018 and growth is still increasing. India is now considered to be a business brain centre of the world. Along with the ICT sector, the pharmaceuticals, medical and wellness tourism segments are doing well and patients seeking high-quality medical treatment at reasonable prices from Asian countries like Bangladesh are giving making medical tourism a new high.

To understand its true potential, India needs to modernise labor and land regulations, address infrastructure bottlenecks and improve its services sector to trade and investment, which will help it to become a super=power in the near future.