AMONG the top export destinations of the Philippines is the vibrant, enormous and continuously booming market of India.
The South Asian republic has a population of 1.3 billion, making it one of the most inhabited countries in the world. According to World Bank estimates, India will continue to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world, with a 7.5-percent gross domestic product growth predicted in the next two years.
In 2018, India was the Philippines’s 15th trading partner out of 221 countries. The total bilateral trade surpassed the $2-billion mark, signifying robust economic relations between the two nations.
For the Philippines, however, much remains to be done in terms of pursuing opportunities which have not yet been fully explored because a wide deficit of $1.1 billion was also recorded in 2018. Exports to India, 62 percent of which were electronics and minerals, amounted only to $589.75 million, falling far behind imports, which totaled $1.69 billion.
To further boost exports to India, an Outbound Business Matching Mission (OBMM) to its financial capital, Mumbai, is already in the pipeline. Scheduled in August 2019, it will be conducted by the DTI Export Marketing Bureau in collaboration with the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC)-India. This will be a follow-up initiative to the OBMM to New Delhi in 2017, which resulted in successful business transactions.
Focusing on Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), which currently have limited exposure but have great potential in the Indian market, the mission will allow Filipino exporters to promote their products by directly linking them to potential business partners in India. It will also enable them to generate leads and take advantage of the Asean-India Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA) where India already eliminated tariffs for 94 percent of Philippine exports.
Activities of the OBMM will include business-matching sessions with major chambers of commerce, meetings with supermarket chains, market scanning and a networking visit to the 14th Annapoorna ANUFOOD India.
As conveyed by Anil Khaitan, president of India’s PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry during the 2017 OBMM, “India and the Philippines—having several common shared values and various commonalities, like anti-colonialism, South-South cooperation, a strong democratic polity and the wide use of the English language—makes a very strong base for strengthening our relationship, but to date, the opportunities between the two countries remain relatively unexplored. It is an opportune time that we convert our political amicability into economic amicability.”
Exporters interested to participate in the OBMM to Mumbai, India, may contact the DTI-EMB Market Innovation Division at (02)465-3300 local 217.