India’s imports from China declined 3% in calendar year 2023 over 2022, the commerce and industry ministry said Monday, adding that exports to both China and the EU rose 7.1% and 2.1%, respectively during the period.
The statement comes more than a week after report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed that India’s trade dependence on China and the EU increased in 2023 while it reduced on Saudi Arabia.
In its Global Trade Update on March 22, the UNCTAD said that India’s trade dependence on China and the EU increased 1.2% each in 2023 while it reduced 0.6% on Saudi Arabia. Trade interdependence between China and the US decreased further in 2023.
“The current observation of increasing India’s trade dependence may carry negative connotation. However, detail analysis indicated trade dynamics in favor of India,” the ministry said.
India’s imports from EU increased 9.7% in CY2023, it said, adding that India mostly imports capital goods (35% in CY2022) and intermediate goods and raw materials (50% in CY2022) from the EU that are further used as input.
The highest increase of import from EU in CY2023 is observed in parts of telephone sets, telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks and of other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data which is an input for manufacturing of mobile and smart phones at $2.4 billion in 2023.
India’s export of smart phones have risen 98.42% in CY2023 at $14.27 billion from $7.19 billion in 2022.
“As such, trade dynamics in CY2023 indicated a much more favorable trade performance for India with both EU and China,” the ministry said.