India-US Trade Hits Historic High, US Replaces China as India’s Top Partner

Increasing economic ties between India and the US have resulted in the US surpassing other nations to become India’s largest trading partner in the fiscal year 2022-23, as per the commerce ministry’s provisional data. Bilateral trade between the two nations rose by 7.65%, reaching USD 128.55 billion in 2022-23 compared to USD 119.5 billion in the previous year, and USD 80.51 billion in 2020-21.

According to the data, there was a 2.81% increase in exports to the US, which amounted to USD 78.31 billion in 2022-23, compared to USD 76.18 billion in 2021-22. Additionally, imports from the US grew by approximately 16% to USD 50.24 billion in the same period.

Also Read: TCS to continue Investing in R&D, Technology, Offices Spaces Amid Volatilities

Contrastingly, the two-way commerce of India with China has declined by approximately 1.5% during 2022-23 to USD 113.83 billion. It was declined opposed to USD 115.42 billion in 2021-22.

In the fiscal year 2022-23, exports to China decreased by roughly 28% to USD 15.32 billion, while imports grew by 4.16% to USD 98.51 billion. This led to a widening of the trade gap to USD 83.2 billion from USD 72.91 billion in 2021-22.

Experts predict that the upward trend in bilateral trade with the US is likely to persist in the upcoming years, given that New Delhi and Washington are committed to further bolstering their economic relations.

A Sakthivel, the President of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), stated that India is benefiting from the rise in exports of products such as pharmaceuticals, engineering, and gems and jewelry, which is aiding in boosting its shipments to the United States.

He further remarked that India will witness increased trade with the United States in the upcoming months as well.

Khalid Khan, the Vice President of FIEO, stated that India is swiftly becoming a reliable trading partner, and multinational companies are lessening their dependence solely on China for their supplies by diversifying their business into other countries, such as India.

Furthermore, he stated that the bilateral trade between India and the US will keep expanding. This is due to the exceeding number of orders to the exporters from that nation.

Rakesh Mohan Joshi, Director of the Indian Institute of Plantation Management (IIPM) in Bangalore, also emphasized that India presents enormous trade prospects for the United States.  It is because of the fact that it is the world’s third-largest consumer market and the fastest-growing market economy.

Also Read: India Open to Buying Russian Oil Beyond G-7 Price Cap Due to OPEC+ Cuts

Moreover, Joshi explained that the prime exports of India comprise jewelry,  petroleum, polished diamonds, pharmaceutical products, light oils and petroleum, frozen shrimp, etc.  Talking about the imports, major imports from the US congregate rough diamonds, petroleum, liquefied natural gas, gold, coal, waste and scrap, almonds and others.”  India enjoys a trade surplus with only a handful of countries, and the United States is one of them. In the fiscal year 2022-23, India’s trade surplus with the US stood at USD 28 billion.

The statistics indicated that China was India’s most significant trading partner from 2013-14 to 2017-18, and again in 2020-21. Prior to China, the United Arab Emirates was India’s most prominent trading partner.

During the fiscal year 2022-23, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was India’s third-largest trading partner, with a trade value of USD 76.16 billion. Following the UAE were Saudi Arabia (USD 52.72 billion) and Singapore (USD 35.55 billion).