US beats China to emerge as India's biggest trading partner during first half of FY-24

New Delhi, Oct 23: The US emerged as India's biggest trading partner during the first half of the financial year 2023-24, despite declining imports and exports. It should be noted that the US surpassed China in terms of trade with India during the April-September period.

 

 

The government data shows decline in the number of exports and imports between India and the US. However, there was fall in trade between India and China during the same period. The final data shows, the US as the biggest trading partner of India during the period.

 

Exports to the US have come down to $38.28 billion during April-September 2023 from USD 41.49 billion a year ago. The two nations also witnessed a decline in imports to $ 21.39 billion during the first six months of the current fiscal compared to $25.79 billion in the same period last year.

 

 

Despite decline in trade between India and America, experts are hopeful of a positive trend in trade in the coming months. They believe that the growth rate will enter a positive zone soon.

 

 

The two-way trade between India and China also dropped by 3.56 per cent to $ 58.11 billion. Exports to China reduced marginally to $ 7.74 billion during the first half of the current fiscal from $7.84 billion in the year-ago period. Imports from China reduced to $ 50.47 billion from $52.42 billion a year earlier.

 

Earlier, China was India's top trading partner from 2013-14 till 2017-18. It was also India's top trading partner in 2020-21. Before China, UAE used to enjoy the title of India's top trading partner.

 

In 2022-23, the UAE, with USD 76.16 billion bilateral trade, was the third largest trading partner of India, followed by Saudi Arabia (USD 52.72 billion) and Singapore (USD 35.55 billion).

 

During April-September 2023, the bilateral trade between India and the UAE stood at USD 36.16 billion.

 

The US was India's biggest trading partner in 2022-23. The bilateral trade between India and the US rose 7.65 per cent to USD 128.55 in 2022-23 against USD 119.5 billion in 2021-22. It was USD 80.51 billion in 2020-21.