India’s Heavy China Dependence Puts Key Sectors at Risk
India’s share in bilateral trade with China has dropped from 42 per cent to 11 per cent in the past two decades
Chennai: While China has agreed to ease curbs on the exports of rare earth elements and fertilizers, India’s dependence on several other critical products is as high as 97 per cent, making industrial, tech, consumer, and energy sectors vulnerable to strategic disruption.
India’s share in bilateral trade with China has dropped from 42 per cent to 11 per cent in the past two decades. India’s trade deficit with China has already crossed $100 billion.
In electronics and semiconductors, 96.8 per cent of imported silicon wafers valued at $151.6 million came from China. China accounted for 86 per cent of $1.06 billion flat panel display modules, 67 per cent of computer monitors, apart from heavy imports of printed circuit boards, memory chips, and microprocessors, according to GTRI.
About 80.5 per cent of $4.45 billion laptops and tablets came from China. In smartphone imports, China has a share of 58.8 per cent, and smartphone components 55 per cent.
China supplied 88.1 per cent of India’s total antibiotic imports and accounted for 97.7 per cent for India’s imports of erythromycin.
In renewable energy, China accounted for 82.7 per cent of $1.36 billion worth of solar cells and 79 per cent of $1.7 billion valued solar panels. Of the $2.26 billion lithium-ion batteries imported, 75.2 per cent came from China.
In viscose yarn imports of $337.4 million, 98.9 per cent came from China. China has a share of 75-77 per cent in LED lamps and fittings and their parts.
In battery chargers, Chinese imports stood at 68.2 per cent, 72 per cent in electric inverters.
To curb the dependence, India needs to be either self-reliant or diversify sourcing.
“A reverse-engineering programme using IITs and CSIR labs should deconstruct imported goods and create open-access blueprints for most critical imports. At the same time, a deep-tech push is needed to build integrated domestic ecosystems in chips, PCBs, sensors, and batteries, backed by the new Rs 100 billion innovation fund,” said Ajay Srivastava, founder, GTRI.
India should also screen Chinese investments in sensitive areas such as telecom, power equipment, fintech, and logistics, while deepening partnerships with Japan, Taiwan, and the European Union.
