Aiming for more of the global pie

Indian services export growth has outperformed that of the average emerging market in recent years. If global growth continues to be sluggish, India could enlarge its share of the cake

We often hear that India is a closed economy, and is insulated from global shocks. Empirical evidence, however, can put both these arguments to rest.

India’s trade integration

India’s trade openness — defined by the sum of exports and imports to GDP — has grown at a rapid pace. Trade as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) rose from 25 per cent in 2000 to 56 per cent in 2013; the share of exports increased from 11 per cent to 25 per cent, while imports increased from 13 per cent to 31 per cent. Nevertheless, India did not escape the de-globalisation