India imports

Imports
Crude petroleum is India's biggest import with $155bn spent on it in 2012. Imports of gold and silver amounted to $62bn and electronic goods and pearls and precious stones are also top import items for the country. India's top import source is China followed by the UAE, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia. The UK came in at 21st place in 2011-12 with India importing a total of $7.7bn. In the six months recorded so far for 2012-13, the UK has dropped a place and has a 1.4% share of the India's import sources. The table below shows India's imports and exports by country including the share. The downloadable spreadsheet also has data on the top import and export products for the country. What can you do with this data?

Exports
A publication on India's trade and investment by Exim bank highlights the trend in exports moving towards southern countries, particularly in the Asia and Africa regions. Asia is a key destination of India's exports - in 2001-02 Asia's share stood at 40.2% but in 2011-12 it grew to to 51.6%. Europe, however has seen a decline in its share, down to 19% in 2011-12 from 24.8% in 2001-02. India's key exports in 2012 were petroleum products which generated $56bn, followed by gems and jewellery with $47bn. Pharma products, transport equipment, machinery and readymade garments are also big exports for India. The 2012 data shows that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was India's biggest export market, closely followed by the USA. The latest data available from the Indian Government's Ministry of Commerce and Industry covering April-September 2012, shows the US to have slightly overtaken the UAE. Explore the graphic above to see India's imports and exports by value and year. The UK is the eighth biggest export market for India and held 2.9% of the market share in April-September 2012.