Indian officials are less concerned by the quantum of the trade deficit with China than by the nature of the basket of goods. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
India’s imports from China rose 21.8% in the first half of 2026 to a record $79.41 billion, according to data released on Tuesday (July 14, 2026) by China’s General Administration of Customs.
Also read | Trade deficit jumps 430% in June 2026 due to surging oil, gold and electronics imports
Two-way bilateral trade was up to $91.72 billion after six months, a 23.6% rise from last year, and on track to surpass the record $155.62 billion trade figure from 2025, when China was again India’s biggest trade partner in goods.
While the trade deficit reached $67.1 billion after the first half of the year — also on track to exceed last year’s record $116.12 billion figure — India’s exports to China have also registered strong growth, up by 37.2% to $12.31 billion.
India’s official data on Monday (July 13, 2026) showed the overall trade deficit in the month of June 2026 was up by 430% year-on-year to $15.3 billion in June 2026, on the back of high growth in merchandise imports and a rise in the value of crude oil, electronics and gold imports.
Indian officials are less concerned by the quantum of the trade deficit with China than by the nature of the basket of goods. India imports not only large quantities of finished electronics and other equipment from China, but also intermediates that are needed for Indian manufacturing and fuel India’s own exports.
A particular concern is the nature of India’s exports to China, which in the past have been dominated by low value-added products such as organic chemicals, ores and seafood.
Earlier this month, India’s Ambassador to China Vikram Doraiswami pitched for greater Indian exports to China, especially in areas where India is globally competitive such as pharmaceuticals. “Obviously, we would like to be able to export more to China. This is nothing unreasonable about suggesting that,” he said, speaking at the World Peace Forum, an annual foreign policy forum in Beijing.
“How do we find ways in which India and China can be connected, with a widening basket of goods that both sides can provide each other, but also a sense that reasonable mechanisms to protect consumers can be applied in a way that enables India also to export more of the goods that it can export elsewhere in the world also to China?” he said.
“In other words, it would be easier to consider that the trade wouldn’t be exactly 50-50 balanced, but one side would have more exports, provided that exports consist of goods that we can also add value. If it is pure consumption goods, that becomes a little harder to sell as a reasonable mechanism for the deficit.”
Published – July 14, 2026 12:39 pm IST
