Opportunities for exporting to India

A big deal is being made by Indian politicians about the jump in their exports to 100 billion dollars (I think they are still measly compared to China at over $700 billions), but that is not what was interesting to me. I was actually more curious about what India was importing. Like us, India is also importing more than it exports. Of course, oil and petrochemicals have a role to play, but if I exclude those products, the market for foreign products in India is just shy of 100 billion dollars.

And what are Indians importing?

I found the list to be somewhat interesting. There were things that I did not expect. Here are the top five categories:

1. Natural or cultured pearls, precious or semiprecious stones, precious metals, jewelry, coins, etc. 18%
2. Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, etc. 8.5%
3. Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts 7%
4. Iron and steel 4%
5. Organic chemicals 3.5%

- By Jay Dwivedi