StatsGuru: Taking stock of India's economic relations with the US

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The recent visit of US President Barack Obama to India put the bilateral economic relations into the spotlight. As Table 1 shows, India exports more to the US than it imports - a gap that has been widening over time. In fact, exports to the US have been expanding as a share of India's exports, according to Table 2 - whereas, as a share of total Indian imports, those from the US have been nearly flat or declining for the same period.

The composition of US-India trade has not remained identical over the past 10 years. Machinery and gems continue to dominate the top 5 import categories, in Table 3 - but in recent years, mineral fuels and oils have joined them, indicating the changing nature of the US economy.

Meanwhile, in Table 4, apparel has dropped off the top 5 exports - an indication of the problems of competitiveness in India's apparel industry. As if in counterweight to the balance of trade surplus, the US is a major source of foreign direct investment (FDI); Table 5 shows how FDI from the US, which slowed to a crawl in 2012-13, is now recovering.

In this financial year so far, the US has returned to providing a share of inward net FDI that it has not for four years, according to Table 6. Also on the agenda for talks during Obama's visit was the issue of Indian guest workers in the US. As Table 7 shows, the number of H1-B petitions approved has risen steadily in the past few years - and India now gets almost two-thirds of the total H1-B permissions, according to Table 8.