Globalization and India's international trade: does distance still matter?

This paper attempts to capture the missing 'distance' puzzle in the globalization process driven by trade flows. It is widely recognized that the growing global economic integration process play a major role in the spatial restructuring of many countries at varying geographical scales. The paper illustrates a model of international trade flows that builds upon existing research on the geographies of global trade. Empirical results of the current study indicate that the basic and augmented gravity model provides a useful framework for understanding international trade. The evidence of map pattern in residuals across temporal scale is noted. The results further indicate the importance of distance in the Indian context. An identification of the patterns and determinants of India's international trade with 87 countries suggests that potentially important differences in regional demands and country specific factors may impact the trade interaction over the years.