New Delhi: The Indian commerce ministry has rejected Beijing’s contention that China is India’s largest trading partner and not the US as the ministry’s data published over the weekend showed.
“We have a very robust data system and abide by international norms on data neutrality and data sanctity. Therefore, there’s no scope for any kind of manipulation. The Chinese, on the other hand, operate in an opaque manner,” a senior commerce ministry official, who wished to not be named, told ThePrint.
The figures released by the ministry show that the US beat Beijing as India’s top trading partner in FY22 — the India-US bilateral trade was $119.42 billion and the India-China bilateral trade was $115.42 billion.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian contested the data during a press conference on 31 May.
“According to the statistics of Chinese competent authorities, bilateral trade volume between China and India stood at $125.66 billion in 2021. On that basis, China remains India’s largest trading partner.” He added that the “disparity in trade figures published by China and India is a result of different statistical measurement scales”.
The figure he quoted — $125.66 billion — is based on the calendar year 2021, not the financial year.
ThePrint perused data from China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC), from January-December 2021, to verify this — Chinese exports to India stood at $97.52 billion while imports from India stood at $28.14 billion, totalling $125.66 billion.
ThePrint reached the Chinese embassy in New Delhi over phone and email for a comment but did not receive a response.
Meanwhile, in an email response, the US Embassy in New Delhi declined to comment on the Chinese contention with the Indian commerce ministry data but “welcomed” the growth in bilateral trade.
“We don’t have a comment on these reports. The United States welcomes the strong and continuing growth in our bilateral trade with India, which is a sign of our countries’ deepening cooperation across many areas,” said the embassy.
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Disparity between India, China figures
From April 2021 to March 2022, bilateral trade between India and China was $129.93 billion, according to Chinese customs’ data.
This means the disparity between Chinese and Indian trade figures for FY22 could be roughly $15 billion, given that the Indian commerce ministry has quoted a figure of $115.42 billion.
In contrast, trade figures given by the US Census Bureau are nearly the same as those given by the Indian commerce ministry.
According to US Census Bureau data, for the period between April 2021 and March 2022, US exports to India stood at $42.67 billion while imports from India stood at $77.43 billion. This gives a total of $120.1 billion which is close to the figure given by the Indian commerce ministry — $119.42 billion.
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‘Disparity could be due to transit time of goods’
According to the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), the apex trade promotion body under India’s commerce ministry, the disparity in bilateral trade figures published by India and China is due to statistical differences and, possibly, also the transit time of goods.
“Exports or imports taking place close to the end of the financial year can cause this disparity. What China exports to India in the month of March will reach India in May or June. Until then, it is not recorded. So, these figures [between India and China] are not completely comparable,” Ajay Sahai, Director General and CEO, FIEO, told ThePrint.
On what has helped boost India-US trade this year, Sahai said that India’s exports and imports with the US have been rising at a much faster pace than the overall average over the past five years.
“From 2017-2021, India’s overall imports have grown by a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of around 2 per cent, whereas imports from the US grew by a CAGR of 9 per cent. Similarly, India’s overall exports have grown by a CAGR of around 4 per cent, whereas exports to the US grew by a CAGR of 9 per cent. With China, our trade grew less significantly,” added Sahai.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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