India’s trade deficit with China touched a whopping $44.87 billion last year and its exports shrank to $13.38 billion as bilateral trade registered a marginal increase, totaling $71.64 billion, missing the $100 billion target set by the leaders of the two nations.
The total India-China trade in 2015 amounted to $71.64 billion, officials here told PTI quoting release by the Chinese customs. The bilateral trade registered a marginal increase compared to $70.59 in 2014.
This year China’s exports went up to $58.25 billion while India’s export to China was pegged at $13.38 billion, declining from $16.4 billion in 2014.
While Indian exports continued to decline due to fall in the iron ore and decreasing demand in view of China’s slowdown as well as restrictions on exports, it was also attributed to rising dollar which Indian exporters say is having a negative impact on their profits.
Indian officials say that the trade deficit is more than $48 billion if the unofficial trade between the two countries is taken into account. As the deficit issue continues to be a point of friction between the two countries, India is pressing China to open up more of its markets to IT and pharmaceuticals which are India’s main strengths.
While China continues to promise to look into the Indian demand, the fall of exports show that there is little improvement. India and China agreed to form a special task force during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s to Beijing in May this year to review the deficit issue.
But officials say that it has not met so far. In view of the continued deficit problem, India has been pressing China to step up investments in ‘Make in India’ and other infrastructure projects. So far Chinese investments amounted to around $3 billion according to Development Research Center of China.
The overall trade between them missed the deadline of $100 billion trade set by the leaders of the two countries. Officials say that the marginal increase in trade this year showed that it will be an uphill task to reach the $100 billion landmark. The maximum India-China trade recorded was about $77 billion in 2011.
Russia-China Trade Falls
Trade turnover between Russia and China plunged by 27.8% to $64.2 billion last year, China’s customs department spokesman Huang Songping said on Wednesday. In 2014, the Russian-Chinese trade grew by 6.8% reaching $95.28 billion.
The exports of Chinese goods to Russia fell by 34.4% to $32.9 billion in 2015 and Russia’s imports to China were down 19.1% to $31.4 billion, according to the customs department.
“Last year was rather challenging and difficult for international trade. We believe this year will be the same to some degree. The improvement of the situation in the Russian-Chinese trade depends first of all on the economic environment in two countries and second, on the situation in the world in general,” Huang Songping said.
