India, China trade deficit at $51.5 bn during April-October this fiscal

The trade deficit, difference between import and exports, between India and China has touched $51.5 billion during April-October this fiscal, Parliament was informed on Friday

The trade deficit, difference between import and exports, between India and China has touched USD 51.5 billion during April-October this fiscal, Parliament was informed on Friday.

The deficit during 2021-22 had jumped to USD 73.31 billion as compared to 44.03 billion in 2020-21, according to the data provided by commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

According to the data, imports during April-October this fiscal stood at USD 60.27 billion, while exports aggregated at USD 8.77 billion.

He said that the merchandise exports from India to China have increased from USD 11.93 billion in 2014-15 to USD 21.26 billion in 2021-22, showing an increase of 78.2 per cent over the last six years.

Imports from China, on the other hand, have increased from USD 60.41 billion in 2014-15 to USD 94.57 billion in 2021-22.

"The trade deficit with China in 2004-05 was USD 1.48 billion, which increased to USD 36.21 billion in 2013-14, an increase of 2,346 per cent. Against this massive increase, the trade deficit with China has since increased by only 100 per cent to USD 73.31 billion in 2021-22," Goyal said.

He informed that most of the goods imported from China are capital goods, intermediate goods and raw materials and are used for meeting the demand of fast expanding sectors like electronics, telecom and power in India.

"The rise in import of electronic components, computer hardware and peripherals, telephone components, etc. can be attributed to transforming of India into a digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy. India's dependence on imports in these categories is largely due to the gap between domestic supply and demand," he added.

Replying to a question about imports from China, minister of state for commerce and industry Anupriya Patel said that many imports are inputs for further manufacturing in India and exports from India.

The major goods imported from China include electronic goods, organic and inorganic chemicals, medicinal and pharmaceutical products, fertilisers, crude and manufactured and dyeing/tanning/colouring materials.