How is it that the United Arab Emirates has
become India's largest trading partner in recent years, overtaking the
United States, European Union and China? An unusual pattern of two-way
flows in gold, diamonds and jewellery seems to underlie the boom in
bilateral trade. There is reason to suspect that some of this trade
involves round tripping of merchandise and to that extent the volume of
India-UAE trade may be artifi cially inflated.
