The first meeting of the India-US Trade Policy Forum was held in November 2005 in New Delhi, co-chaired by Shri Kamal Nath and Mr. Rob Portman, where it was decided to set up the five focus groups. More recently, a meeting of the India-US Trade Policy Forum was held in Washington on 16-17 February 2006, which was co-chaired by Shri Menon from the Indian side and Shri Karan Bhatia from the US side.
The US is India's largest trading partner and foremost export destination. At present, it accounts for 16.48 percent of India's exports and around 6.26 percent of India's imports. India accounts for only about 1.06 percent of the USA's total exports and imports.
Growth of India's exports to the US in the year 2004-05 over the previous year was 15.50 percent while the growth in the US exports to India was 35.72 percent over the previous year.
During the 8 months of the current financial year (April-November 2005), India's exports to the USA at US $ 10,064.94 million registered a positive growth of 15.05 percent over the corresponding period of the previous year when the exports were US $ 8747.97 million.
During April-November 2005, India's imports from the US at US $ 4589.39 million registered a positive growth of 16.74 percent over the corresponding period of the previous year when the imports were US $ 3931.18 million.
There is huge untapped potential to increase bilateral trade. The major items of Indian exports to the US are:gems & jewellery; readymade garments (cotton) & accessories; manufactures of metals' primary and semi-finished items and steel; and drugs, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals.
Press Information Bureau Government of India
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