Abstract

The paper describes the process of economic integration in India and the benefits that the economy received from the same, especially in the era of 1990s. Internationalization of capital flows (represented by FDI inflows) and internationalization of trade flows (represented by trade openness) are used as the indicators for this study. The paper also explores the interface between FDI inflows and trade openness in the Indian economy during 1970 - 2008. The empirical investigation confirms that India’s performance on trade openness and foreign direct investment is very positive, especially during the 1990s. The Granger causality further confirms the presence of uni-directional causality from trade openness to FDI inflows. The paper finally suggests that, there is need of more economic integration to get more trade and FDI inflows in the Indian economy.

Key words: Economic integration, trade, FDI, granger causality.