Issue No: 21
Moneta
Over the past 10 years, India's
merchandise exports to China have
been volatile. It ranged between $9
billion and $18 billion. The peak was
$18 billion recorded in 2011-12. In
2015-16, however, it fell to a nine-
year low of $9 billion in 2015-16. In
the last financial year, the exports
witnessed an improvement to $10.2
billion. Commerce and industry
minister Nirmala Sitharaman said
recently in the Lok Sabha that efforts
are being made to increase overall
exports to the country by diversifying
the trade basket with emphasis on
manufactured
goods,
services,
resolution of market access issues
and other non-trade barriers.
EFFECT OF WAR ON TRADE
Doka La standoff has kicked off a
trade war between India and China.
There are many instances that prove
the trade war is currently on. China is
concerned about India's investigation
against 12 Chinese products over the
last six months, while India is
stonewalling the acquisition of an
Indian company by a Chinese firm.
As
Dinesh
Unnikrishnan
of Firstpost writes, these instances
are more than enough for us to
conclude that a trade war is already
on between the neighbours. It may
not be an all-out battle yet, but it has
begun.
A trade war affects the economy, its
people's financial security. While the
Chinese economy is facing rough
weather, India’s economy neither is
in the pink of health. There are
widespread job losses. While the
informal sector has been hit hard by
demonetisation
and
GST
implementation, the formal sectors
such as IT industry are hit by
protectionism in the western markets
and technological advancement.
II.
July 2017
III.
Merchandise
imports
from China ($billion)
Over the past 10 years, India's
merchandise imports from China
have seen an exponential increase of
251% from $17.48 billion in 2006-07
to $61.29 billion in 2016-17. In
comparison, India's exports to China
have risen a meagre 22.5% during
the same period.
Merchandise exports to
China ($billion)
12