In the post-pandemic world, Indian exporters will get an opportunity to explore broader business opportunities with Mauritius. India and Mauritius have recently entered into a limited Free trade agreement covering 310 exports item from India, including food and farm products, textile articles, plastics, chemicals, and electronic products.

Indian Exporters can seize this opportunity and increase their exports with Mauritius and use Mauritius as a gateway to increase exports to the rest of Africa. The African Market has about 1.3 billion consumers as Mauritius is part of several free trade arrangements with the region including the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. Exporters in India can make certain arrangements with their Mauritian counterparts wherein the key production of the product can happen in India and some value addition can happen in Mauritius and the final product can then be exported to a number of countries across Africa or the Mauritians can act as a distributor for Indian Products.

FTAs are the arrangements between two or more trading alliances that primarily agree to reduce or dispose of customs tariff and non-tariff barriers on substantial trade between them, create common pathways for trade and investment, and support strong relationships between people and companies, which in turn, it promotes global growth. FTAs encourage competition on a global level by increasing efficiency of domestic industries, specialization within countries, availability of cheaper and better quality products for consumers, global monopolies are eliminated due to increased completion. FTAs are significant for India because of their smaller market size exports are a crucial component for the country’s growth. FTAs are vital for India in the post-pandemic world as our country has a huge potential in labour-based exports, particularly in sectors where china is rapidly surrendering space such as apparel, clothing, leather and footwear.

India has been among the leading trading partners of mauritius for past five years, the growing relationships in terms of trade is reflected when India represents 10 percent of Mauritius total imports and India is ranked third in their main countries of import. India mainly exports petroleum products, pharmaceuticals and rice, additionally, it also supplies raw materials like yarn and fabrics to the local textile and clothing industry.

For Instance India and Australia is also in talks to introduce Free trade pacts which are likely to be put in place by the end of next year. It will specifically include a chapter about e-commerce. The proposed trade agreement would cover trade in goods and services and investment. India Bilateral trade with Australia exceeded AUD 24 billion last year.

The main Indian exports to Australia are petroleum products, medicines, polished diamonds, gold jewelry, clothing, etc., while the main Australian exports to India include coal, LNG, alumina, and non-monetary gold. In the services sector, the main Indian exports are related to travel, telecommunications and IT, government and financial services, while Australian services exports are mainly related to educational and personal travel.