Double-digit rise in exports helps India nearly halve trade gap with China

Exports to China saw sustained double-digit growth for the fourth straight month in August, led by eightfold rise in iron and steel shipments

India’s robust double-digit exports growth to China, coupled with sharp contraction in imports, nearly halved the trade gap between the two trading partners in the first five months of the current fiscal year (2020-21, or FY21) over the same period of 2019-20 (FY20). 

The restriction on imports from China, along with the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign, has shrunk India’s trade deficit with the neighbouring country to $12.6 billion between April and August of FY21, from $22.6 billion in the year-ago period. 

India’s trade deficit with China stood at $23.5 billion in the corresponding period of 2018-19 and at $26.33 billion in 2017-18.

Exports to