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India is the world’s seventh-largest economy, sitting between France and Italy. It is among the fastest growing economies in the world. Even though it’s GDP growth recently dipped to 5.7% India is growing faster than any other large economy except for China. By 2050, India’s economy is projected to be the world’s second-largest, behind only China.
The limited availability of resources make export and import an important part of a country’s economy. This trade has helped in the enormous growth of the Indian economy. It also provides employment and increases the standard of living. The export market has been a major factor of in the growth of Indian economy. India’s strong diplomatic ties with major countries around the world has allowed for profitable trade over the years. India shipped US$394.8 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2021. This amount reflects a 33.4% increase since 2017 and a 43.3% acceleration from 2020 to 2021.
India’s Top Exports
India’s biggest export products by value in 2021 were refined petroleum oils, diamonds, medication mixes in dosage, jewelry and rice. In aggregate, those major exports account for one third (29.4%) of India’s overall export revenues.
These are India’s top 10 export commodities:
- Engineering goods
- Petroleum products
- Gems and jewelry
- Organic and inorganic chemicals
- Drugs and pharmaceuticals
- Electronic goods
- Cotton yarn/fabrics/made-ups, handloom products etc
- Ready-made garments (RMG) of all textiles
- Marine products
- Plastic and linoleum
India ranks among world-leading countries exporting diamonds, jewelry and refined petroleum.
The following export product groups categorize the highest dollar value in Indian global shipments during 2021. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from India.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$56.4 billion (14.3% of total exports)
- Gems, precious metals: $38.2 billion (9.7%)
- Machinery including computers: $24.2 billion (6.1%)
- Iron, steel: $21.2 billion (5.4%)
- Organic chemicals: $21.2 billion (5.4%)
- Pharmaceuticals: $19.5 billion (4.9%)
- Vehicles: $18.9 billion (4.8%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $18.8 billion (4.8%)
- Cereals: $12.4 billion (3.1%)
- Cotton: $10 billion (2.5%)
Mineral fuels including oil was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories. This was propelled by higher international revenues from India’s exported refined petroleum oil. In second place for improving export sales was iron and steel via a 99.4% gain. India’s export of cotton posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 72.6%.
Top 5 commodity groups of export which recorded positive growth during January 2021 vis-à-vis January 2020 are: Other Cereals (313.88%), Oil meals (253.06%), Iron Ore (108.66%), Cereal preparations and miscellaneous processed item(43.62%), and Jute manufacturing including floor covering(27.64%). Value of non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports in January 2021 was USD 22.40 billion as compared to USD 19.79 billion in January 2020, a positive growth of 13.21%.
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Top Buyers of Indian Commodities
Several countries around the globe import a wide range of commodities from India. The United States remains India’s top export partner in 2021-22, followed by China. The top ten buyers of Indian commodities are:
- USA
- China
- United Arab Emirates (UAE)
- Hong Kong
- Bangladesh
- Singapore
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- Nepal
- Netherlands
From a continental perspective, 45.6% of India’s exports by value were delivered to fellow Asian countries while 20.1% were sold to North American importers. India shipped another 19.2% worth of goods to Europe. Smaller percentages went to Africa (9.6%), Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean (3.6%) then Oceania led by Australia (1.9%). Among the ASEAN countries, Indian exports to Singapore was the largest.
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The table below shows percentage wise export to the top ten buyers:
Country | Export Percentage |
USA | 18.1% |
United Arab Emirates | 6.4% |
China | 5.8% |
Bangladesh PR | 3.6% |
Hong Kong | 2.9% |
Singapore | 2.7% |
United Kingdom | 2.6% |
Netherland | 2.6% |
Germany | 2.4% |
Nepal | 2.3% |
Apart from the data in the table above, Belgium (2.3%) and Saudi Arabia (2.1%) also buys commodities from India.
There are several factors which helped in the growth of the Indian economy – systemic development of infrastructure, better connectivity which facilitates easier transportation of goods etc. are some of them.
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