China overtakes US to become India's biggest trading partner

With $118.4 billion two-way commerce, China has become India's biggest trading partner in 2023-24, according to data by economic think tank GTRI. With this, China has surpassed US, as the bilateral trade between India and US stood at $118.3 billion in 2023-24.

India-China bilateral trade

As per the data, India's exports to China rose by 8.7% to $16.67 billion in the last fiscal. Sectors that saw the most growth includes iron ore, cotton yarn/fabrics/madeups, handloom, spices, fruits and vegetables, plastic and linoleum. Likewise, the imports from China increased by 3.24% to $101.7 billion.

Meanwhile, exports to the US dipped by 1.32% to $77.5 billion in 2023-24 as against $78.54 billion in 2022-23. The imports dipped by about 20% to $40.8 billion. Washington was the top trading partner of New Delhi during 2021-22 and 2022-23.

India's trade dynamics

As per the Global Trade Research Initiative, India's trade dynamics with its top 15 trading partners underwent significant transformations from FY 2019 to Fy 2024. This impacted both the imports and exports along with the status of trade surplus or deficit across various sectors.

India's export to China declined marginally by 0.6%, from $16.75 billion to $16.66 billion, while imports from China surged by 44.7%, from $70.32 billion to $101.75 billion.

"This growth in imports led to an expanding trade deficit, rising from $53.57 billion in FY2019 to $85.09 billion in FY2024, highlighting concerns over stagnant exports amidst rising imports," GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava said

Meanwhile, India's trade surplus with US expanded as the imports grew by 14.7%, from $35.55 billion to $40.78 billion while the exports grew significantly from $16.86 billion to $36.74 billion.

According to the commerce ministry data, China was India's top trading partner from 2013-14 till 2017-18 and also in 2020-21. Before China, the UAE was the country's largest trading partner. The US was the largest partner in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

In 2023-24, the UAE with $83.6 billion, was the third largest trading partner of India. It was followed by Russia ($65.7 billion), Saudi Arabia ($43.4 billion), and Singapore ($35.6 billion).

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