India–China trade: Exports jump 67% in December on electronics, marine shipments; imports also rise

India’s merchandise exports to China surged 67.35% year-on-year to $2.04 billion in December, driven by higher shipments of electronics, marine and agricultural products, according to Commerce Ministry data released on Thursday.

The sharp rise was led by exports of oil meals, marine products, telecom instruments and spices. In the electronics segment, key items registering strong growth included populated printed circuit boards, flat panel display modules and other electrical apparatus for telephony.




Agricultural and marine exports comprised products such as dried chillies, black tiger shrimp, green gram, Vannamei shrimp and oil-cake residues. Shipments of aluminium and refined copper billets also made a significant contribution to the overall export growth.

Imports from China increased 20% to $11.7 billion during the month under review, the data showed.

On a cumulative basis, during April–December of the current fiscal, India’s exports to China rose 36.7% to $14.24 billion, while imports climbed 13.46% to $95.95 billion. This pushed the trade deficit with China to $81.71 billion in the nine-month period.

Reacting to the data, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal described the export performance as encouraging.

“It is a welcome growth,” he said.

China remains India’s second-largest trading partner after the US, with bilateral trade flows continuing to expand despite the persistent trade imbalance.