As EU and Indian leaders meet in Delhi, we look at the figures on trade. The UK’s place in the relationship warrants special attention. EU-India trade has more than tripled since 2000, but UK-India trade is largely static. The shift is especially noticeable for EU exports to India, where the UK share has dropped from 29% to 10%.









On the day of the EU-India summit we revisit the economic relationship between the two partners. Of course, an important component in this relationship is the role of the UK, especially in the context of Brexit.

As our numbers show, there has been a steady and substantial increase in EU27 trade (both exports and imports) with India. In fact, EU27-India trade has more than tripled since 2000. Exports from the EU27 to India have increased from €9.8bn to €33.8bn and imports from €10.1bn to €32.0bn.

The UK has not, contrary a common perception, managed to capture much of this increase. In fact, the value of UK exports and imports (at least in euros) has been very stable throughout the whole period. In this respect, the EU27 block has increased in importance for India, whereas the position of the UK has remained the same.

The picture in terms of foreign direct investments is broadly the same: the EU27 is the bigger, and increasingly so, investor in India. The UK invests about one billion Euros per year, while the rest of the EU invests just over 16 billion.