Ashwin Kamath

Good day Teresa! I will try to give you a more detailed info on the relationship rather than the differences between Balance of Trade (BOT) and Balance of Payments (BOP).(1).The balance of trade is a narrow concept, while the balance of payment is a wider concept. In fact, the balance of payments includes in its structure is the notion of the balance of trade. (2).Balance of trade refers to only the value of imports and exports of goods, like visible items only. On the other hand, the balance of payments is more compressive in scope and it covers the total debits and credits of all items visible- as well as invisible. It includes all international economic transactions and items such as Merchandise trade, services, banking, insurance, capital flows, gold buying, and selling, etc. (3).BOT is only a partial study of the total economic transactions in international trade (IT) it has little analytical significance. On the other hand, the balance of payments provides a complete record of international economic transactions/pictures of international economic relations. (4).The balance of trade takes into account only the payments and receipts on the account of visible exports and imports. (5).The balance of trade account does not record transactions of capital nature, whereas the BOP account records transaction nature. (6).The balance of trade account is a part of the current account of the balance of payment, but the balance of payment account is more comprehensive. (7).In the accounting sense, BOT may be deficit or surplus. It may thus be imbalanced. But the balance of payments as a whole must always balance. For that reason, there is an item like “Errors and Omission” in its structure. (8).BOT is useful in economic calculations, while BOP is more useful in economic calculation. (9).The exchange rate is affected by the balance of payment, not by the balance of trade.

As far as I know, Norway mostly imports from India products like: apparels, textile, yarn & fabrics, metals, non-metal mineral, fruit & vegetables, furniture, travel goods, handbags, coffee, tea, footwear, spices Refrigerators, Freezers.

Hi Teresa! One of the best commodity to export to Singapore from India is copper. India is 7th largest exporter of copper and Singapore is the second largest importer of copper from India. Rice is another commodity product. As you may already know, India is the top exporter of rice in the world.

Dear Anna, the most lucrative import export businesses, according to me, based on the knowledge of the field are of two types: 1.Niche products - products not much explored or manufactured around the world. For example the edible cutlery, the biodegradable kitchenware, organic paper, Clothes from Jute; 2.Edibles - any edible sells in the world. Bring a newness to the recipe.In addition, India being an agricultural land, Indian fruits, vegetables and cereals, and grains are in great demand all around the world.

Dear Gloria, I have been in the trade industry for more than 20 years and I have been doing both Electronic Commerce and Traditional Commerce. Of course, there are plenty of advantages for choosing Electronic Commerce. Beside the ones mentioned by Mr. Clain I would add: 1.Opportunity to gain new customers with Search Engine VisibilityTraditional retail is determined by branding and relationships. In addition to these two, online retail is also driven by traffic from search engines; 2. Chance to locate the product quicker. On e-commerce websites, customers can easily click through intuitive navigation or use a search box to narrow down their product search immediately. Some websites remember customer preferences and shopping lists to facilitate repeat purchase; 3. Being open all the time. Another major factor why the customer would prefer e-commerce websites to traditional commerce is that they can shop at any time as e-commerce store timings are 24*7*365; 4. Creating markets for niche products. In a traditional commerce environment, buyers and sellers of niche products can find it difficult to locate each other. On the other side, in the online world, all you have to do as a buyer is to type the specific product in a search engine and you will find a list of websites that sell the product.