Services exports majorly rebounded

According to 2021 ‘Commonwealth Trade Review’, monthly services exports of India to a large extent have achieved the pre-pandemic level, after the COVID-19 shock hit the economy. Overall, commonwealth countries lost around US$ 345 billion of trade in 2020, out of which US$ 60 billion account for intra-commonwealth trade.

The report found that India’s services exports have “largely rebounded after an initial COVID-19 shock in the first half of 2019, supported by exports of ICT-related services”. A large share of India’s information and communications technology (ICT) services were exported via Mode 1 even during the pre-pandemic period. Thus, trade of these services has been relatively shielded from COVID-19 disruptions.

During March-November 2020, merchandise exports and imports of India declined by 11.4% and 11.9% respectively, owing to the pandemic. Baroness Patricia Scotland, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth said, “India is a major driver of intra-Commonwealth trade and all parts of the Commonwealth need to work together if we are to recover swiftly and effectively from the COVID-19 crisis.”

Trend in FDI for India also stand out globally. According to the report, FDI inflows into India are estimated to have experienced 29.5% growth in 2020 over the average annual inflows in 2017-19 while FDI declines globally and in many common wealth countries.