List of Products India imports from China

China is the source of around 14% of total Indian imports. Indian import from China includes; electrical machinery, cell phones, heavy machinery, telecom, power, plastic toys and critical pharma ingredients, furniture, pharma, fertiliser, food, and textiles, etc. India has imported goods worth $62.4 billion from China during April 2019-February 2020 period.

As we know that the USA is the largest trading partner of India and China is in the second position. The basic difference between the India-USA and India-China trade is that India has a trade surplus of US& 16 billion with the USA while trade deficit of US& 53 billion with China in 2018-19.

China is the source of nearly 13.7% of India’s imports across sectors such as chemicals, automotive components, consumer electronics, and pharmaceuticals.

Indian medical industry is heavily dependent on Chinese ingredients to manufacture medical instruments and medicine in India.

Sudarshan Jain, President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, said that “At least 70% of India’s drug intermediary needs are fulfilled by China,” 

India China Trade Volume:-

India’s trade with China was $87.07 billion in 2018-19. Indian import from China was US$70.32 billion in 2018-19 while Indian export to China was just US$ 16.75 billion in the same period. So India’s trade deficit with China was $53.57 billion in 2018-19.

Source: Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Posted On 07 FEB 2020 5:03 PM by PIB Delhi

Due to the border disputes between these two countries, bilateral trade between India and China, already down by 15% since 2018

Most imported items from China are;

Electronic items are the most imported item by India from China. Its total imported values were US$ 20.6 billion followed by the machinery cost 13.4 billion dollars, organic chemicals of 8.6 billion dollars, and plastic items values at 2.7 billion dollars during 2018-19.

What India import from China?

Top Products which India Imports from China are;

1. Electronics products

2. Organic Chemicals

3. Nuclear Machinery

4. Parts of computers

5. Cars and motorcycles parts

6. Toys

7. Fertilizers

8. Mobiles

9. Lightings

10.Milk products 

11. optical and medical instruments

12.Iron and steel

Value of the Indian import from China:-

Products	2018-19 (Rs.cr)	2017-18 (Rs.cr)
Electrical machinery	144405	184789
Nuclear Machinery	93616	87282
Organic Chemicals	60,082	45691
Plastic items	19038	15246
fertilizers	14412	6912
Iron and steel items	12165	9497
optical ad medical instruments	11108	10718
Vehicle and accessories	10636	9371
Iron and steel	9950	10445
Other chemical products	8994	8692

So the above data shows that China accounted for around 14% of India’s total imports in 2018-19. Electrical machinery is the biggest item imported from China since 2017.

What if the Chinese import disrupted?

1. If the import drops the price of many imported goods could shoot up which may cause higher inflation in the country.

2. If the supply of raw material is disrupted the local production of many goods may suffer a lot.

3. Pharma and electronics are the most vulnerable items which may experience huge falls in production due to dip in the supply of ingredients used in the manufacturing of these goods. 

So it is clear that the Indian economy is heavily dependent on Chinese imports. Hence the government of India should take every step with utmost care.