1. Economic and commercial ties between India and Netherlands are an important facet of overall Indo-Dutch relations. India’s economic interests in the Netherlands include technical cooperation as a partner in key areas such as: transport and logistics infrastructure, water management, environment, agriculture and food processing, services and science & technology, and in promoting further FDI from an already significant investment partner.

2. Indo-Dutch bilateral relations have continued to develop and gain momentum in the past years.  Both the Indian and the Dutch governments attach great importance to the bilateral economic relationship and look forward to further consolidating the robust and rapidly expanding ties between the two countries.

3. In terms of trade and investment, India has strong economic interests in the Netherlands, which is at present the fifth largest investor of FDI into India and is the 29th largest trading partner globally and 5th largest trading partner in the EU after Germany, Belgium, France and Italy. Trade and investment cooperation is a key component of India-Netherlands relationship and has shown satisfactory growth.  After crossing the € 1 billion mark for the first time in 1997, it has crossed the € 6 billion mark in 2012 touching € 6.383 bn. Bilateral trade dipped by 9.73% in 2013 and further dipped by 21.54% in 2014 mainly because of sharp drop in the main item of exports – refined petroleum products. The trade balance continues to be in favour of India.  However, there is a potential for further growth in the trade relations.  Netherlands is home to a number of multinational and other companies, many of which have their production sites and business operations in India.  It is also a source of useful technical know-how, besides FDI, in a variety of sectors – water management, upgrading of ports and airports, dredging, agro-processing, telecommunication, energy, oil refining, chemicals, and financial services.  Presently, there are 174 Indian companies based in the Netherlands.

The progression of bilateral trade in the period 2000 - 2014 (mln Euros) is given below:

Year	Indian Exports	% Change	Dutch Exports	% Change	Total Trade	% Change	Balance of Trade
2000	837.05	17.76	537.54	11.80	1374.59	15.36	299.51
2001	881.30	5.02	537.38	0.03	1418.68	4.22	343.92
2002	889.76	0.96	511.41	- 4.83	1401.17	- 1.23	378.35
2003	1031.31	15.91	547.21	7.00	1578.52	12.66	484.10
2004	1044.44	1.27	771.09	40.91	1815.53	15.01	273.35
2005	1377.78	31.92	888.23	15.19	2266.01	24.81	489.55
2006	1665.86	20.91	1105.48	24.46	2771.34	22.30	560.384
2007	1794.01	8.13	1577.03	43.66	3371.04	21.64	216.98
2008	2309.31	28.72	1565.02	- 0.76	3874.33	14.93	744.29
2009	2384.99	3.28	1667.46	6.54	4052.45	4.60	717.53
2010	3286.56	37.80	1716.92	2.97	5003.48	23.47	1569.64
2011	3578.19	8.87	1863.90	6.99	5442.09	8.77	1714.29
2012	4468	24.40	1915	2.8	6383	17	2553
2013	4129.51	-7.57	1632.37	-14.8	5761.88	-9.73	2497.14
2014	2675.09	-35.2	1845.38	13.04	4520.47	-21.54	829.71

4.   The main items of Indian Exports to the Netherlands in 2014 were manufactured goods classified by material (19.4%) in which apparels & clothing accounted for 11.4% of our exports; miscellaneous manufactured articles (19.4%) in which iron & steel accounted for 5.5% of our total exports; Machinery & transport equipment (18.8%) in which telecommunication equipment accounted for 5.6% of total exports; chemicals & related products (16.3%) in which organic chemicals accounted for 8.2% of total exports; Food & live animals (11.9%) in which vegetables & fruit accounted for 5% of total exports; refined petroleum products (8.6%). 

5.    The main items of Indian Imports from the Netherlands in 2014 were machinery & transport equipment (31.6%) of which transport equipment accounted for 9.7% of total exports, industrial machinery was 4.8% of total exports and electrical machinery was 4.7% of total exports ; chemicals & related products (28.6%) in which primary plastics accounted for 9% of total exports; organic chemicals were 7.8% of the total and chemical materials & products were 5.6% of total; crude materials (14.2%) in which metal ores and metal scrap accounted for 11.6% of total exports; miscellaneous manufactured articles (11.1%) in which professional, scientific and controlling instruments accounted for 4.8% of total exports) and; manufactured goods classified by materials (11.1%) in which iron & steel accounted for 2% of total exports.

6.    Netherlands is the fifth largest investor in terms of foreign direct investment into India with FDI inflows during period April 2000 to March 2015 amounting to US $ 14.671 billion (accounting for 6 % of total inflows into India). Netherlands was the fourth largest investor during the financial years 2012-13 and 2013-14. During the financial year 2014-15, the Netherlands is the third largest investor. The current ongoing Eurozone crisis has not seriously impacted trade and investment flows between India and Netherlands.

7.   Many Dutch multinationals and major companies like Phillips, Shell, Unilever (Hindustan Lever in India), KLM, one of the three big banks – , Rabobank - and others have a growing and successful presence in India. Dutch SMEs with niche technologies and world-class expertise are also actively looking at the Indian market.

8.  As per figures of the Dutch Central Bank, In 2014, Indian investments to the Netherlands were Euros 2.376 billion and total Indian investments in the period 2004-14 were Euros 11.840 billion.

9. The Netherlands is steadily becoming an attractive destination for investments from India and figures amongst the top destinations. There are over 174 Indian companies having a presence in the Netherlands. These include all the major IT companies such as TCS, HCL, Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, NIIT, etc. Other prominent companies include Moser Baer,  ONGC Videsh, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Tata Steel, Kirloskar Brothers, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Viraj Profiles etc.  Major acquisitions in the Netherlands by Indian companies were: Tata Steel acquired the Anglo-Dutch Corus for US $ 7.6 billion; Apollo Tyres acquired the Dutch tyre maker Vredestein Banden and; The Serum Institute of India acquired the Dutch Bilthoven Biologicals which has given it access to technology and expertise for making the Injectable Polio Vaccine (Salk).  Many Indian companies are exploring the possibilities for further tie-ups.