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The US has emerged as India’s largest trading partner in 2022-23 due to increasing economic ties between the two countries.
According to the Commerce Ministry’s provisional data, bilateral trade between India and the US increased by 7.65% to $128.55 billion in 2022-23 compared to $119.5 billion in 2021-22. It was $80.51 billion in 2020-21.
Exports to the US increased by 2.81% to $78.31 billion in 2022-23 compared to $76.18 billion in 2021-22, while imports grew by about 16% to $50.24 billion, the data showed.
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On the other hand, in 2022-23, India’s two-way commerce with China declined by around 1.5% to $113.83 billion as against $115.42 billion in 2021-22.
Exports to China fell by around 28% to $15.32 billion in 2022-23, while imports rose by 4.16% to $98.51 billion in the last fiscal. The trade gap widened to $83.2 billion in the last fiscal compared to $72.91 billion in 2021-22.
Experts believe that the trend of increasing bilateral trade with the US will continue in the coming years as New Delhi and Washington engage in further strengthening of economic ties.
Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) President A. Sakthivel said increased exports of goods such as pharmaceuticals, engineering and gems and jewelery are helping India push its shipments to America.
“The trend of increasing trade with the US will also continue in the coming months,” he said.
FIEO Vice President Khalid Khan said that India is emerging as a trusted trading partner and global companies are reducing their reliance on China for their supplies and diversifying business to other countries such as of India.
“Bilateral trade between India and the US will continue to grow as our exporters get good orders from that country,” said Mr. Khan.
Rakesh Mohan Joshi, Director of the Indian Institute of Plantation Management (IIPM), Bangalore, also said that India provides a huge trade opportunity for the US as India is the third largest consumer market in the world and the fastest growing market economy.
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“Major export items from India to US include petroleum, polished diamonds, pharmaceutical products, jewellery, light oils and petroleum, frozen shrimp, made ups etc. whereas major imports from US include petroleum, rough diamonds, liquified natural gas, gold, coal, waste and scrap, almonds etc,” said Mr. Joshi.
America is one of the few countries with which India has a trade surplus. By 2022-23, India has a trade surplus of $28 billion with the US
The data showed that China was India’s top trading partner from 2013-14 to 2017-18 and also in 2020-21. Before China, the UAE was the country’s largest trading partner.
By 2022-23, UAE with $76.16 billion, will be India’s third largest trading partner. It was followed by Saudi Arabia ($52.72 billion), and Singapore ($35.55 billion).
