India's Export of Agro and Food Products to Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) : A Study for the Period of 1991-2001

Liberalization of Indian economy has opened immense opportunities for export of agricultural products. GCC countries are heavily dependent on import of agricultural commodities to fulfill the needs of their rapidly growing population. Due to geographical proximity to GCC countries and natural comparative advantages to Indian farmers there is a large scope for exports of agricultural commodities to GCC. Recognizing this, the paper makes an attempt to analyze India's agro exports to GCC covering traditional and non -traditional agro exports. The absolute value of exports of the Indian agricultural and food products has increased significantly since the initiation of trade liberalization. However, the relative share of India's agro and food products to GCC countries has declined during 1991-2001. This share was 30% in .2000-01 in India's agro export, which constitutes a major part in India's agro export indicating the importance of GCC in Indian exports. The compound growth rate of export of other processed food was the highest as compared to the export of other commodities to GCC. It can be concluded that Indian farmers are relatively better placed to exploit the emerging opportunities if proper policy support is provided to them. Thus, there exists plenty of scope for Indian agricultural exports in the new economic environment