ThePrint ·
India’s China trade deficit is now structural. Electronics goods deficit doubled to $43 bn since 2019
China accounted for 80 percent or more of India’s imports across 636 tariff lines in FY26, up from 461 in FY19, making the neighbour key to the Indian economy, notes a Koan Advisory report.
New Delhi: India’s dependence on China for key components used by its electronics manufacturing sector has grown significantly in recent years. Imports of goods under HS Chapter 85 from China accounted for $43.1 billion of India’s trade deficit with the country in FY26, up from around $20 billion in FY19. This points to a structural trade deficit rather than one driven by cyclical changes in imports, a report by Koan Advisory and the Institute of Chinese Studies, published last week, said.
The Harmonized System (HS) is an internationally standardised system for classifying traded goods. HS Chapter 85 covers electrical machinery and electronic equipment.
The report found that in FY19, China supplied 80 percent or more of India’s imports in around 461 six-digit tariff lines. In other words, for these product categories, at least four-fifths of India’s imports came from China. India imported goods under 3,843 six-digit tariff lines from China that year.