2022-23 trade deficit with China crossed $71 billion by January

Government says deficit had been decreasing between 2017-18 and 2020-21, but rose to $73.3 billion in 2021-22

India’s trade deficit with China touched $71.56 billion in the first ten months of 2022-23. Image for representation | Photo Credit: Getty Images

India’s trade deficit with China has touched $71.56 billion in the first 10 months of 2022-23, just $1.7 billion short of the record high of $73.31 billion in 2021-22, as per data shared by the Commerce Ministry in the Lok Sabha.  

Responding to a query from MP Manickam Tagore on whether the trade deficit with China has been increasing every year, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel said that the trade deficit with China has decreased progressively every year from 2017-18 to 2020-21. “It increased in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21,” she added. 

“The trade deficit with China in 2004-05 was $1.48 billion, which increased to $36.21 billion in 2013-14, an increase of 2,346%,” Ms. Patel said in reply to another MP’s query on India’s trade with the country. 

“Against this massive increase, the trade deficit with China has since increased by only about 102% to $73.31 billion in 2021-22 from $36.21 billion in 2013-14,” Ms. Patel, contrasting the numbers under the present government with that clocked under the previous one. 

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, the minister said. 

“India’s dependence on imports in these categories is largely due to the gap between domestic supply and demand. Some of the raw materials like Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and drug formulations, auto components, mobile phone parts are also used for making finished products which are also exported out of India,” Ms. Patel concluded.