India, in Infographics: Trade And Geopolitics
India Runs A Deficit With Most Of Its BRICS Partners. China Is In A League Of Its Own. Trade Balance, 2000–2024.
India’s Signed Merchandise Trade Balance — Exports Minus Imports, US$ Bn — With Each Of Its BRICS Partners. Toggle Any Partner With The Chips; The Chart Rescales, And Hovering Reads Every Line For That Year. Pick China To Also See Total Trade, Exports And Imports. India’s Deficit With China Falls Alone To About −$112bn; Russia’s Exploded After 2022 To −$62bn On Discounted Oil.
Balance = Exports − Imports, US$ bn, Calendar Year — UN Comtrade, India As Reporter (TOTAL Goods). China + Russia Are Shown By Default; Add Or Remove Any Partner. Calendar-2024 Puts The China Deficit At −$112bn; India’s Official DGCI&S Fiscal-Year Figure Is −$99.2bn For FY2024-25.
India’s Deficit With China, 2024
−$112bn
On Its Own Bigger Than India’s Deficit With All Eight Other BRICS Partners Combined.
The Russia Shock
−$62bn
Near Balance For Two Decades, Then Blown Open By Discounted Russian Crude After 2022.
BRICS Partners In Deficit
5 Of 9
India Buys More Than It Sells From China, Russia, Indonesia, The UAE And South Africa.
Total Trade With China, 2024
$142bn
The Relationship Itself Keeps Growing Even As It Tilts — Pick China On The Chart To See It Year By Year.
What The Lines Say
China Is Not Simply India’s Largest BRICS Deficit — It Is In A Different League. The Red Line Falls Away From Every Other Partner And Never Comes Back, While Russia Shows How Fast A Balance Can Break: Near Zero For Twenty Years, Then A −$60bn Gulf Opened In Three Years Of Cheap Oil. The Bloc India Helped Found Is, In Trade Terms, A Set Of Deficits — One Enormous, One New, The Rest Modest.
Reading The Lines
China — In A League Of Its Own
India’s Deficit With China Has Only Ever Widened, To About −$112bn In 2024. Total Trade Reached About $142bn The Same Year — India Sells Roughly $1 For Every $8 It Buys. Pick China On The Chart To See The Full Breakdown.
Russia — The New Deficit
For Two Decades India’s Balance With Russia Sat Near Zero. Discounted Crude After The 2022 Invasion Of Ukraine Changed That In Months, Opening A Deficit Of About −$62bn By 2024.
The UAE — Surplus To Deficit
India Ran A Surplus With The UAE As Recently As 2015 (About +$10bn). Rising Gold And Energy Imports Flipped It To A Deficit Of About −$19bn By 2024.
How This Was Built
The Series
India’s Signed Merchandise Trade Balance (Exports Minus Imports) With Each Partner, US$ bn, Calendar Year — UN Comtrade, India As Reporter, TOTAL Goods. One Consistent Basis Across All Nine Partners So The Lines Are Comparable.
Partners And Notes
The BRICS Core (China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa) Plus Expanded Members India Trades With (UAE, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Ethiopia). Calendar-2024 Puts China At −$112bn; India’s Official DGCI&S Fiscal-Year Deficit Is −$99.2bn For FY2024-25, On Total Trade Of $127.7bn.
Sources: UN Comtrade, India As Reporter (Merchandise Trade By Partner). China Fiscal-Year Anchor: DGCI&S / Department Of Commerce. Retrieved 9 September 2026. Balances Are Exports Minus Imports; Negative Is An India Deficit.
