UAE, India trade to hit $100 billion by 2020

Inayat-ur-Rahman, Gulf Today

Currently, India is UAE’s largest third trading partner. Several UAE companies have invested in India in 2018, and the bilateral trade between the two countries is on track to surpass $100 billion by 2020.

According to the data collated by the UAE Central Bank, India received a total of Dhs13.6 billion worth of cash sent through exchange houses and banks during the fourth quarter of 2018. Also, UAE hosts one of the largest Indian expatriate community in the world, comprising more than 3.3 million people.  National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) stated that UAE is one of its strategic international growth markets during a press briefing in Dubai. NPCI’s two flagship products RuPay and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) are the pillars of the Indian payment system.

“UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several features, seamless fund routing and merchant payments under one umbrella. We have designed this feature for NRIs working outside of India. It enables them to transfer money on a real time basis through their smartphones, to their family members or any other individuals living in India. The process of receiving money from a foreign country is sometimes time-consuming; through UPI 2.0 the process is made much simpler and quicker now,” stated  Praveena Rai, Chief Operating Officer, NPCI.

“UAE is the first country in the Middle East where, RuPay card has been launched. Close to 175,000 merchant locations spread across 21 business houses will be accepting the cards once it is completely operational. Furthermore, close to 5,000 ATMs in the UAE will also be accepting India’s RuPay card. Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Bank of Baroda will soon start issuing RuPay cards in the UAE,” added  Arif Khan, Chief Digital Officer, NPCI.