Composition of foreign Indian foreign trade means major commodity or sectors in which India is doing export and import. India is a very old participant in world trade. Indian foreign trade registered a number of structural changes during the planning period. The percentage of non- traditional goods in total export has increased i.e, export of chemical and engineering goods have shown a good rise. Some other items are gems and Jewellery. India is making export of few traditional goods like; tea, coffee, rice, pulses, spices, tobacco, jute, iron ore etc.
India’s Foreign Trade (Merchandise): October, 2015
Let’s have a look at the condition of Indian Trade;
A. Exports (including re-exports)
Exports during October, 2015 were valued at US$ 21352.79 million (Rs. 138916.98 crore) which was 17.53 per cent lower in Dollar terms (12.53 per cent lower in Rupee terms) than the level of US$ 25891.39 million (Rs. 158822.95 crore) during October, 2014. Cumulative value of exports for the period April-October 2015-16 was US$ 154292.24 million (Rs. 992503.57 crore) as against US$ 187288.74 million (Rs. 1130539.38 crore) registering a negative growth of 17.62 per cent in Dollar terms and 12.21 per cent in Rupee terms over the same period last year
B. Imports:
Imports during October, 2015 were valued at US$ 31120.06 million (Rs. 202460.88 crore) which was 21.15 per cent lower in Dollar terms and 16.38 per cent lower in Rupee terms over the level of imports valued at US$ 39468.76 million (Rs. 242109.24 crore) in October, 2014. Cumulative value of imports for the period April-October 2015-16 was US$ 232054.30 million (Rs. 1492679.30 crore) as against US$ 273558.19 million (Rs. 1651512.80 crore) registering a negative growth of 15.17 per cent in Dollar terms and 9.62 per cent in Rupee terms over the same period last year.
Crude Oil and Non-Oil Imports:
Oil imports during October, 2015 were valued at US$ 6846.11 million which was 45.31 per cent lower than oil imports valued at US$ 12517.24 million in the corresponding period last year. Oil imports during April-October, 2015-16 were valued at US$ 54975.07 million which was 42.07 per cent lower than the oil imports of US$ 94896.22 million in the corresponding period last year.
Non-oil imports during October, 2015 were estimated at US$ 24273.95 million which was 9.93 per cent lower than non-oil imports of US$ 26951.52 million in October, 2014. Non-oil imports during April-October, 2015-16 were valued at US$ 177079.23 million which was 0.89 per cent lower than the level of such imports valued at US$ 178661.97 million in April-October, 2014-15
Trade Balance
The trade deficit for April-October, 2015-16 was estimated at US$ 77762.06 million which was lower than the deficit of US$ 86269.45 million during April-October, 2014-15.
Condition of India’s foreign trade in services is given below (RBI_16th November, 2015)):
Exports (Receipts)
Exports during September, 2015 were valued at US$ 13321 Million (Rs. 88208.73 Crore).
B. Imports (Payments)
Imports during September, 2015 were valued at US$ 7457 Million (Rs. 49378.61 Crore).
C. Trade Balance
The trade balance in Services (i.e. net export of Services) for September, 2015 was estimated at US$ 5864 Million.
Composition of India’s Foreign Trade:
Since independence, composition of export trade of India has undergone a change. Prior to independence, India used to export agricultural products and raw materials, like jute, cotton, tea, oil seeds, leather, food grains, cashew nuts, and mineral products. It also exported manufactured goods. But now in its export kitty are included mostly manufactured items like, machines, ready-made garments, gems and Jewellery, tea, jute manufactures, Cashew Kernels, electronic goods, especially hardware’s and software’s which occupy prime place in exports.
Share Commodity Composition of Exports:
| Commodity Group | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 |
| Agriculture and Allied | 9.7% | 12.4% | 14% |
| Ores and minerals | 3.4% | 2.8% | 2.0% |
| Gems and Jewellery | 16% | 14.7% | 15.4% |
| Drugs and pharmaceuticals | 4.3% | 4.4% | 5.0% |
| Manufactures of metals | 3.4% | 3.1% | 3.6% |
| Transport equipment | 6.4% | 6.9% | 6.3% |
| Electronic goods | 3.3% | 3.4% | 3.0% |
| Readymade garments | 4.6% | 4.5% | 4.3% |
| Handicrafts | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Crude and petroleum (including coal) | 16.8% | 18.7% | 18.9% |
Sources: Economic Survey; 2013-14
Compositional changes in India’s export basket have been taking place over the years. The export of India’s primary products in export fell over from 16% in 2000-01 to 12% in 2012-13. The share of manufacturing export fell drastically from 78.8% in 2000-01 to 66% in 2011-12 and further to 64% in 2012-13. The fall was mainly in the traditional export items like textiles, leather and jute. The share of petroleum crude and refined items increased from 4.3% in 2000-01 to 18.6% in 2012-13.
Sources: Economic Times; Dec. 2014
Share Commodity Composition of Import:
| Commodity Group | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 |
| Food and allied products | 2.9% | 3% | 3.5% |
| Fuel | 31.3% | 35.3% | 38.0% |
| Fertilizers | 1.9% | 2.3% | 2.3% |
| Capital goods | 13.8% | 13.3% | 12.6% |
| Chemicals | 5.2% | 4.9% | 5.0% |
| Pearls semi precious and precious stones | 9.4% | 5.7% | 6.1% |
| Gold and silver | 11.5% | 12.6% | 13.0% |
| Electronic goods | 7.2% | 6.7% | 7.0% |
Sources: Economic Survey; 2013-14
There has been a significant change in the import basket of India in the recent years. The share of gold and silver imports increased from 9.3% in 2000-01 to 12.6% in 2011-12 with a high import rate of 44.5%. Import of crude oil is the largest item of India’s import basket.
Sources: Economic Times; Dec. 2014
Commerce and industry minister Ms. Nirmala Sita Raman released the India’s trade policy of 2015-20, which aims the target of $ 900 bn export of goods & services by 2020 and India’s share in world export to 3.5%. If everything according to the plan of government of India then this target could be achieved.
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