India’s Top Trading Partners:
India has recorded a trade deficit, the difference between imports and exports, with nine of its top 10 trading partners in 2023-24, according to official data.
- China has emerged as India’s largest trading partner with $118.4 billion of two-way commerce in 2023-24, surpassing the US.
- The bilateral trade between India and the US stood at $118.28 billion in 2023-24.
- Washington was the top trading partner of New Delhi during 2021-22 and 2022-23.
- In 2023-24, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with USD 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).
- India’s total trade deficit in the last fiscal narrowed to $238.3 billion as against $ 264.9 billion in the previous fiscal.
- The trade deficit with China rose to $85 billion, Russia to $57.2 billion, Korea to $14.71 billion, and Hong Kong to $12.2 billion in 2023-24 against $83.2 billion, $43 billion, $14.57 billion, and $8.38 billion, respectively, in 2022-23.
- India has a trade surplus of $ 36.74 billion with the US in 2023-24. America is one of the few countries with which India has a trade surplus.
- After the US, the Netherlands offers a surplus of $17.3 billion on the back of being a hub of India’s petroleum trade with Europe.
- Other countries with which there is a trade surplus are the UK ($4.5 billion), Italy ($ 2.9 billion), France ($902 million), and Belgium ($598 million).
- India has a free trade agreement with four of its top trading partners – Singapore, the UAE, Korea, and Indonesia (as part of the Asian bloc).
