US becomes India's top trading partner in 2021-22; overtakes China

Reflecting deepening trade ties, the US has surpassed China as India's biggest trading partner at bilateral trade worth $119.42 billion in the year 2021-22 as compared to $80.51 billion in 2020-21. The two-way annual trade with China stood at $115.42 billion in 2021-22 vs $86.4 billion in 2020-21, the commerce ministry data shows.

Exports to the US amounted to $76,111.33 billion in 2021-22, a major increase from $51.62 billion in 2020-21, while imports rose to $43.31 billion from $29 billion in 2020-21, the data shows.

At the same time, exports to China increased marginally to $21.25 billion in 2021-22 as compared to $21.18 billion in the previous year. Imports also rose to $94.16 billion from $65.21 billion in 2020-21.

With the US, India's trade surplus stood at $32.7 billion in 2021. The trade gap with China stood at $72.9 billion in 2021-22, a major increase from $44 billion in 2020-21.

The bilateral trade between India and the US is expected to rise in the coming years as well, as both the countries are working on strengthening economic ties.

China was India's biggest trading partner from 2013-14 till 2017-18. It also emerged as the biggest trading partner in 2020-21 as well. Before China, the UAE was India's biggest trading partner.

The bilateral trade with the UAE stood at $72.8 billion in 2021-22, emerging as India's third-biggest trading partner. Exports stood at $28 billion, while imports amounted to $44.8 billion. India's trade gap with the UAE stood at $16.7 billion in 2021-22.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq were the fourth and fifth biggest trading partners of India in 2021-22 with total annual bilateral trade amounting to $42.8 billion and $34.3 billion, respectively. India's trade deficit with both the countries stood at $25.3 billion and $29.5 billion, respectively.

Singapore ($30.1 billion), Hong Kong ($30 billion), Indonesia ($26.1 billion) and South Korea ($25.5 billion) were other countries on the list of top 10 largest trading partners of India. India, however, had a trade deficit with all of these countries.

Meanwhile, India’s merchandise exports continued their growth trajectory with April figures scaling a new high by crossing $40 billion, a 30% increase over April 2021. The increase in value was led by a 127.69% growth in petroleum products, a 71.69% growth in electronic goods followed by cereals (60.83%), coffee (59.38%), and processed food (38.82%) and leather product (36.68%) exports. Services also performed extremely well to reach $27.60 billion, an increase of 53% over April 2021, the ministry estimates show.

Merchandise imports showed a similar trend in April 2022. The imports stood at $60.3 billion, an increase of 30.97% over imports of $46.04 billion in April 2021. The merchandise trade deficit in April 2022 was estimated at $20.11 billion against $15.29 billion in April 2021, an increase of 31.5%.