Causal Links between Foreign Direct Investments and Trade: A Comparative Study of India and China

Abstract

Global economic environment is changing rapidly during the last two decades. This change is reflected in widening and intensifying international linkages in trade and FDI. Various countries are now favouring economic reforms for attaining rapid and sustained growth. The scope for transnational production has expended due to reduction of the barriers to international trade and the various regional integration agreements between the different countries. This paper examines the causal relationships between FDI and trade (i.e Exports and Imports) in India and China. Granger causality test has been employed to examine the causal relation between FDI and trade by using the data over the period of 1976-2011.The results for China show unidirectional causality running from FDI to imports and FDI to exports, however, there exist bidirectional causality between imports and exports. India gives the results which are not similar to China where bidirectional causality between FDI and imports; FDI and exports; and exports and imports have been found.