China is once again India’s top trading partner, overtaking the US
Last Updated on May 14, 2024 9:00 am
Regardless of the political conflict, China has overtaken the US as India’s largest trading partner. The US was India’s largest trading partner in the previous two fiscal years.
According to the data of the Ministry of Commerce of India, the trade between India and China in the fiscal year 2023-24 was 118.4 billion or 11 thousand 840 million dollars. In that year, India’s bilateral trade with the United States was 118.3 billion or 11 thousand 830 billion dollars.
According to the news media Economic Times, the United States was India’s largest trading partner in the financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23. Trade between the US and India stood at $119.42 billion in 2021-22, up from $80.51 billion in 2020-21.
China has been India’s largest trading partner for four years from the 2013-14 fiscal year, according to data from India’s commerce ministry. Earlier, UAE was India’s largest trading partner. And the US was India’s largest trading partner in the last two fiscal years.
According to the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), trade with India’s 15 largest trading partners has seen significant changes from 2019 to 2024. During this period, India’s exports to China decreased slightly, but imports from China increased greatly. Statistics show that during this period, the growth of imports was 44.7 percent.
Statistics from economic research institute GTRI show that iron ore, yarn or cloth, textile products, spices, fruits, vegetables and plastics are among the major exports from India to China. India’s exports to China increased by 8.7 percent to 1,667 billion dollars in the last financial year. On the other hand, India’s imports from China increased by 3.24 percent. According to the statistics, in the last financial year, India brought goods worth 10 thousand 175 million dollars from China. That is, there is a huge trade deficit between the two countries, which is unfavorable to India.
Ajay Srivastava, founder of GTRI, said the growth in imports is widening the trade deficit. Compared to 2019, this deficit has increased by 8 thousand 509 million dollars in 2024 fiscal year. This is a reflection of the concern that exports are not growing compared to growing imports.
During this period, however, India’s exports to the United States increased enormously. In the fiscal year 2019, India sent goods worth 5,241 million dollars to the United States, in the fiscal year 2024, it increased to 7,752 million dollars. In this case, the growth has been 47.9 percent. And the growth of imports from the United States has been 14.7 percent. In this case, India’s trade surplus is 3 thousand 674 billion dollars.