China’s total trade surplus with India ‘surpasses $1 trillion’

Tags: Economy/Finance International Relations

Since the boom in bilateral trade in the early 2000s, China has taken advantage of a favourable trade balance with India that now exceeds $1 trillion.

India-China bilateral trade

• Bilateral annual trade between India and China crossed $100 billion for the first time in 2021 to reach $125.6 billion, of which India's imports were $97.5 billion.

Important facts

• Trade ties between both countries began to boom in the early 2000s.

• This was largely driven by the import of Chinese machinery and other equipment by India.

• It increased from $3 billion in 2000 to $42 billion in 2008 and China became India's largest trading partner in 2008.

• One-third of the machinery and about two-fifths of organic chemicals that India buys from the world come from China.

• Automotive parts and fertilizers are other items where China accounts for more than 25 per cent of India's imports.

• India procures nearly 90 percent of the parts for some mobile phones from China.

India’s export to China

• China is also a major partner of India in terms of export market.

• China is the third largest destination for Indian shipments.

• According to the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), India's share in China's total exports is only a little over two per cent.