By IANS
New Delhi : The US financial crisis may have wreaked havoc in the world’s largest economy but India’s business with it has not been affected much, says a survey by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) released Thursday.
The IACC in its Indo-US Business Confidence Index (IUBCI) indicated that the US sub-prime mortgage crisis had little effect on the economic cooperation and business and entrepreneurial confidence between the two nations.
The index measures the level of business and entrepreneurial confidence between India and the US that saw a marginal decline in bilateral business, attributed to the slowdown of services exports from India due to a variety of reasons.
Significantly, merchandise trade from and to the US registered an increase, with imports from the US going up by 35.49 percent and exports by 11.5 percent in 2007 as compared to the previous year, the IACC said.
The increase in imports from the US was mostly due to fresh market opportunities to US exporters particularly in electronics, avionics, aerospace and life sciences.
An increase in military equipment sale to India, including the recent $1 billion aircraft purchase deal between the Indian government and a US firm, had also contributed to the rise in imports from the US, says the chamber.
Exports of jewellery, pearls and precious stones were the main components that enhanced India’s exports to the US. The only segment that showed a declining trend in India’s exports was apparel and accessories.
However, export of services by the Indian firms to the US registered a fall of 12.3 percent in value terms compared to the preceding year and has been the key contributor behind the marginal dip of the index.
Significant appreciation of the rupee by 9.8 percent since April 2007 made services exports from India less competitive.