Indian Politics & Policy Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2018 | Page 77

Indian Politics & Policy
Table 9B. FDI by India to South Asian Countries, 2010–17
(U.S.D. Mn) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Country Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total
Afghanistan — — — — 1 4 — 0
Bangladesh — — — 26 10 19 9 30
Bhutan — — — 6 1 0 0 0
Iran — — — — — — — —
Maldives — — — 1 2 14 3 7
Nepal — — — 10 3 5 2 22
Pakistan — — — — — — — —
Sri Lanka 1,262 260 157 130 63 98 52 131
Myanmar — — — 16 4 1 13 50
Total 1,262 260 157 190 84 141 78 240
Source: RBI, accessed July 13, 2018—https://dbie.rbi.org.in/DBIE/dbie.rbi?site=home
India’s Emerging Trade and
Investment Relationships:
Correlation with
Development Partnership?
India’s foreign assistance policy does
not seem to be related to trade and
investment relationships as far as its
major thrust, South Asia, is concerned.
Table 7 gives India’s total trade with various
regions and countries from 2004–
05 to 2016–17 including with the countries
of South Asia.
India’s gross merchandize trade
increased during the period of the
new assistance policy from 23 percent
of GDP in 2004–05 to 43 percent in
2011–12 before declining to 29 percent
in 2016–17, while its exports increased
from 10 percent to 17 percent before
declining to 11 percent of GDP for the
same years, indicating a rapidly globalizing
economy even after the global
financial crisis of 2008. 7 India’s trade
with the countries of the South Asian
region, a major focus of Indian assistance
with 47 percent of Exim Bank
credit, amounts to only 3.3 percent of
its overall trade in 2016–17, up from 2.8
percent in 2004–05, and only 7 percent
of its exports in 2016–17, from only 5.5
percent in 2004–05. India’s trade with,
and exports to, Afghanistan, remain
tiny at 0.14 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively,
as at 2016–17. Likewise, India’s
trade with, and exports to, Myan-
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