Amid border clashes, calls for boycotting Chinese products have intensified. While India relies heavily on imports from China, a much smaller portion of China’s imports are from India. India’s unicorns are also heavily dependent on investments from China. An economic boycott seems infeasible.
One-way traffic
In FY19, 5.1% of India’s exports were destined for China, while only 3% of China’s came to India. Also, 13.7% of India’s imports were from China, while only 0.9% of China’s were from India.
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Data | China-India trade chart 1
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Top partner
Imports from China accounted for over 14% of India’s total imports in FY20 (until Feb.), the highest share among all the nations. Exports to China accounted for over 5% of India’s exports, the third highest.
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Data | China-India trade chart 2
Also read: Parley | Can India decouple itself from Chinese manufacturing?
High dependence
The chart depicts the imported products for which India depends on China the most. For instance, 76.3% of all antibiotics imported by India are from China.
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Data | China-India trade chart 3
India is heavily dependent on China for electronics and pharmaceutical products.
Start-up story
Many Indian unicorns (start-ups with valuation of over $1 billion) have a Chinese investor. The chart depicts the estimated investment by Chinese companies in select start-ups.
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Data | China-India trade chart 4
Source: Commerce Ministry, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Brookings India and IMF.
