The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA), the 54-country trade bloc which came into force on 30 May 2019, is set to make Africa the world’s largest free trade zone since the WTO in 1994, opening up vast opportunities for global economies. India exported USD 7771.91million worth of engineering goods to Africa during 2019-20 compared to US$ 7964.36 million during 2018-19. India’s total trade with Africa is USD 66680.01 million during 2019-20 compared to US$ 69655.62 million during the same period last year. India’s export of Agricultural machinery to Africa valued at US$ 165.4 million during 2019-20 compared to US$ 245.7 million in 2018-19.India’s import of Agricultural machinery from Africa stood at US$ 0.2 million during 2019-20 compared to US$ 0.43 million during 2018-19.

India has a long-standing trade agreement with the ASEAN region and the ASEAN-India FTA (AIFTA) of 1 January 2010 further strengthened relations between India and the bloc. The importance of ASEAN in India’s foreign trade is evident from the fact that India has one of the longest trade agreements with the region. The total bilateral trade between India and ASEAN was to the tune of USD 86,862.32 million during 2019-20 compared to 96795.04 million during 2018-19  and India’s total exports to the trade block was USD 31,492.51 million during 2019-20 among which India’s engineering exports to the region amounted to US$ 10589.8 million.

India is the biggest and the most industrialised trade partner of the SAARC region. The total bilateral trade between India and SAARC was USD 25,726.73 million over 2019-20 and India’s exports amount to USD 21,892.12 million over the same period. India’s engineering exports to South Asia amounts to US$ 6818.84 million in 2019-20 compared to US$ 8242.22 million during 2018-19. Out of the total engineering exports, India’s exports of Agricultural machinery was valued at  US$ 204.58 million during 2019-20 compared to US$ 294 million during 2018-19, comprising a share of approximately 3% out of total engineering exports during 2019-20.