Union commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured the government is tracking the developments of Britain’s referendum, scheduled on June 23, to leave the European Union. She said it will have a bearing on India’s trade with the European Union and the UK—currently, 15% of India’s imports are from the EU.
With two days left for Britain’s referendum, the Indian government is monitoring how responses are affecting the Indian landscape. Domestic markets have already been seen reacting adversely to the vote with investors remaining wary. More significantly, India’s exports slipped for the 18-straight month in May by 0.79% to $22.17 billion.
Sitharaman said, “…EU demand is waiting for the outcome of Brexit. We still have some way to go before we say, yes there is a revival (in exports). But we can see it is bottoming out. To see the pick up (in exports), I want some international developments also to happen whichever way it happens.” She added that contracting economies and developments in nations, including Venezuela, will have some impact on India’s trade.
