India's import from China increased from $61.28 billion to $65.21 billion: Union Minister Anupriya Patel

India's import from China increased from $61.28 billion in 2016-17 to $65.21 billion in 2020-21, registering an annual growth rate of 1.28% during the time, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel stated in the Rajya Sabha in a written statement on Friday.

New Delhi: India's import from China increased from $61.28 billion in 2016-17 to $65.21 billion in 2020-21, registering an annual growth rate of 1.28% during the time, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel stated in the Rajya Sabha in a written statement on Friday.

She also said that the imports from China remained static between 2019-20 and 2020-21. The Union MInister also said that the major items of import from China include telecom instruments, computer hardware, fertilizers, electronic components, and instruments.

"Many of these imported items are used for meeting the demand of fast expanding sectors like telecom and power in India. Some of our imports from China like the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and drug formulations provide the Indian pharma industry raw material for producing finished goods which are also exported out of India," said Patel.

As for India's export to China, the minister said it has increased $10.17 billion in 2016-17 to $21.19 billion in 2020-21 exhibiting an annual growth at the rate of 21.67%.

"The Government has also launched schemes such as Production Linked Incentive Schemes (PLIs) to promote domestic manufacturing capacities in critical sectors such as Key Starting Materials/Drug Intermediates, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients apart from electronic components & mobiles, white goods (ACs and LEDs), Specialty Steel, Drones and Drone Components etc. These schemes intend to promote domestic manufacturing capacities and attract investment and reduce dependency on imports from China," she said.