India's exports to Greece fall 15 per cent on debt crisis: Government

New Delhi: The financial crisis in Greece has led to a 15.45 per cent fall in India's exports to the European nation during the first quarter of this fiscal, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Total bilateral trade between both the countries during this period fell 8.33 per cent to USD 124.11 million, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. "The Greek Debt crisis has impacted India's bilateral trade with Greece," she said. She further said that no trickle-down effect of the crisis in India is anticipated at this stage; however, institutional mechanism is in place with Greece where steps can be discussed.

"The volume of software and engineering exports of India to Greece is not very large, hence there is negligible impact, however, there is not much impact on Eurozone," she added. The bilateral trade between both the countries was USD 488.59 million in 2014-15, an increase of about 10 per cent over the previous fiscal. Replying to a separate question, she said exports to countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Singapore are showing declining trend in the last three years.

"Exports to some Asian countries during the last three years have declined. the sluggishness in export depends on several factors including economic scenario in the importing countries, world economic recession, currency fluctuation and fluctuation of oil/petroleum prices," she said.