New Delhi, April 16 -- The United States retained its position as India's largest trading partner for the fourth year in a row in 2024-25, with total bilateral trade reaching $131.84 billion, according to data released by the commerce ministry. Meanwhile, India's trade deficit with China expanded sharply to $99.2 billion during the same period.
India's exports to the US grew by 11.6 per cent to $86.51 billion, compared to $77.52 billion in 2023-24. Imports from the US also rose by 7.4 per cent to $45.33 billion. This pushed India's trade surplus with the US to $41.18 billion, up from $35.32 billion in the previous fiscal year.
Major Indian exports to the US included drug formulations and biologicals ($8.1 billion), telecom instruments ($6.5 billion), precious and semi-precious stones ($5.3 billion), petroleum products ($4.1 billion), and gold jewellery ($3.2 billion). On the import side, the US supplied India with crude oil ($4.5 billion), petroleum products ($3.6 billion), coal and coke ($3.4 billion), cut and polished diamonds ($2.6 billion), electric machinery ($1.4 billion), and aircraft parts and gold (each $1.3 billion).
China remained India's second-largest trading partner, with total two-way trade valued at $127.7 billion in 2024-25, up from $118.4 billion the previous year. However, the gap between imports and exports widened. India's exports to China declined 14.5 per cent to $14.25 billion, while imports from China increased by 11.5 per cent to $113.45 billion. Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), said the trade numbers with China pointed to deeper economic dependencies. "Imports surged by 11.5 per cent to $113.4 billion, driven by rising demand for electronics, EV batteries, solar cells, and key industrial inputs - sectors where China dominates India's supply chains," he said. Srivastava added that China is India's top supplier in all eight major industrial product categories and observed that government schemes may be contributing to the trend. "The PLI schemes are fuelling import growth due to their heavy reliance on imported components," he noted.
He also remarked on the decline in exports to China, saying, "India's exports to China fell 14.5 per cent, dipping to $14.2 billion - now lower than they were in FY2014, when the rupee was significantly stronger. This signals more than a trade issue; it's a competitiveness crisis." The United Arab Emirates was India's third-largest trading partner during the year, with total trade of $100.5 billion.
Officials indicated that bilateral trade between India and the US could see further growth. Both sides are negotiating a trade agreement with the objective of raising goods and services trade to $500 billion by 2030 from the current level of $191 billion.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.