International Trade

***International Trade***

Foreign trade in 2001, as a percentage of GDP (in rupee terms) was over 25% up from 14.1 percent in 1990-91. India's main trading partners include the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan.
Total Exports by India: $44.1 billion annually (1 May 2001)

Exports:
     India's chief exports include computer software, agricultural products   (cashews, coffee), cotton textiles and clothing (ready-made garments, cotton yarn and textiles), gems and jewellery, cut diamonds, handicrafts, iron ore, jute products, leather goods, shrimp, tea, and tobacco. The country also exports industrial goods, such as appliances, electronic products, transport equipment, light machinery as well as chemical and engineering products. India imports rough diamonds, cuts them, and exports the finished gems. Nearly 80 percent of exports comprise manufactured items.

     Tourism earnings and private transfers have resulted in an increase in net inflows of invisibles from US$ 1.6 billion in 1990-91 to US$ 8.7 billion in 1996-97. During the current FT (foreign trade) year, i.e. the period between April, 1997 and March 1998 Asia and Oceania accounted for 39.2 per cent of India's total exports, West Europe 28.4 per cent, USA 23.2 per cent, Africa 5.6 per cent.

Total Imports: $49.84 billion (1 May 2001)

Imports:
     Capital goods and fuel, each account for about a quarter of Indian imports. Other imports of India include edible oils, fertilizer, food grains, iron and steel, industrial machinery, professional instruments and transportation equipment. Chemicals, precious and semi-precious stones and non-ferrous metals are the other major imports.

     Asia and Oceania were the largest suppliers of goods and accounted for 47 per cent of India's imports in 1998, followed by West Europe 31.6 per cent, USA 11.5 per cent, Africa 7.2 per cent and East Europe 2.8 per- cent.

Deficits:
     The value of India's imports is greater than the value of its exports. India uses foreign loans to finance the extra imports. With exports and earnings on the invisibles account improving, the trade deficit in 2000/01 narrowed to $5.73 billion from $12.9 billion in the year-ago period. Current account deficit was about US$ 3.7 billion or about 1.4 percent of GDP in 1996-97, down from 3.2 percent in 1990-91.

US Trade with its major trading partners, 2000
Source: US Office of trade and Economic Analysis
(in millions of dollars)

Country
   China
   Japan
Canada
Germany
Mexico
Taiwan
Malaysia
   Italy
Venezuela
S. Korea
   India

Negitive Trade Balance
               83,833.2
               81,555.0
               51,897.3
               29,064.4
               24,577.4
               16,096.8
               14,630.7
               13,982.4
               13,073.2
               12,477.7
                 7,019.5

Rank
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
10
17

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