What does India import?

After the post on what India exports – I got a few emails on the import composition and here is a post on what India imports. This composition will probably not surprise many as most of the imports are oil and gold which have been written about quite extensively over the past few months.

The data for this comes from the Department of Commerce website, which has a great tool that can help you slice and dice this data in many different ways.

I took a list of the top 50 commodities that were imported in the April to September 2011 time period, but the chart is restricted to just the top 10 commodities because that’s the bulk of it and is a lot more readable.

Here is a chart that shows the break – up of the top 10 commodities that India imported in the April – September 2011 time period.

What does India Import?
What does India Import?

Here is the complete list of the top fifty imports.

Dated: 27/12/2011
Values in US$ Millions
(P) Provisional

Rank Commodity Apr-Sep  2010 Apr-Sep  2011(P) %Growth %Share
1 PETROLEUM, CRUDE & PRODUCTS 49,829.17 73,733.58 47.97 31.50
2 GOLD 17,459.40 28,639.85 64.04 12.23
3 ELECTRONIC GOODS 13,391.06 16,868.93 25.97 7.21
4 MACHRY EXCPT ELEC & ELECTRONIC 11,411.93 14,873.98 30.34 6.35
5 PERLS PRCUS SEMIPRCS STONES 14,920.60 14,010.02 -6.10 5.98
6 COAL,COKE & BRIQUITTES ETC. 5,871.44 8,634.54 47.06 3.69
7 ORGANIC CHEMICALS 5,660.97 6,716.15 18.64 2.87
8 METALIFERS ORES & METAL SCRAP 4,458.45 6,413.72 43.86 2.74
9 IRON & STEEL 5,197.44 5,136.70 -1.17 2.19
10 OTHER COMMODITIES 4,685.87 5,031.11 7.37 2.15
11 VEGETABLE OILS FIXED (EDIBLE) 3,085.47 4,826.36 56.42 2.06
12 TRANSPORT EQUIPMENTS 4,862.28 4,235.21 -12.90 1.81
13 PROJECT GOODS 3,005.92 3,896.30 29.62 1.66
14 ARTFCL RESNS,PLSTC MATRLS,ETC. 3,507.80 3,558.64 1.45 1.52
15 FERTILEZERS MANUFACTURED 4,024.62 3,268.97 -18.78 1.40
16 NON-FERROUS METALS 2,028.56 2,705.08 33.35 1.16
17 SILVER 667.02 2,622.86 293.22 1.12
18 INORGANIC CHEMICALS 1,897.49 2,588.69 36.43 1.11
19 PROFSNL INST,ETC EXCPT ELCTRNC 2,192.54 2,569.60 17.20 1.10
20 ELEC MACHRY EXCPT ELECTRONIC 1,814.25 2,348.85 29.47 1.00
21 CHEMICAL MATRL & PRODCTS 1,515.47 1,916.44 26.46 0.82
22 MANUFACTURES OF METALS 1,437.06 1,903.68 32.47 0.81
23 MACHINE TOOLS 986.03 1,504.69 52.60 0.64
24 MEDICINAL & PHRMACUTICL PRODTS 1,244.54 1,361.15 9.37 0.58
25 WOOD AND WOOD PRODUCTS 840.84 1,192.52 41.83 0.51
26 NON-METLC MNRL MNFS EXCL PERLS 751.36 998.43 32.88 0.43
27 COMP.SOFTWARE IN PHYSICAL FORM 403.71 951.03 135.57 0.41
28 OTH TXT YRN,FABS,MADEUP ARTL 730.12 927.89 27.09 0.40
29 SYNTHC & RECLMD RUBBER 530.80 888.56 67.40 0.38
30 PULSES 826.43 810.55 -1.92 0.35
31 PAPER BOARD & MANUFACTURES 623.58 793.71 27.28 0.34
32 CASHEW NUTS 349.24 763.75 118.69 0.33
33 DYENG,TANNG,COLRNG MATRLS 595.27 742.78 24.78 0.32
34 PULP AND WASTE PAPER 569.45 658.88 15.71 0.28
35 FERTILIZERS,CRUDE 356.83 610.66 71.13 0.26
36 M-MADE FMNT/SPUN YRN(INC.WAS) 418.71 518.01 23.72 0.22
37 NEWSPRINT 385.96 488.68 26.61 0.21
38 PRIMRY STEL,PIG IRON BASD ITMS 291.98 427.53 46.42 0.18
39 NATURAL RUBBER 379.66 426.30 12.29 0.18
40 FRUITS & NUTS EXCL CASHEW NUTS 313.82 415.13 32.28 0.18
41 PRNTD BOOKS,NWSPAPRS,JRNLS ETC 294.76 396.70 34.58 0.17
42 OTHER CRUDE MINERALS 224.68 292.45 30.17 0.12
43 LEATHER 210.37 240.68 14.41 0.10
44 SPICES 158.08 238.81 51.07 0.10
45 SULPHR & UNROSTD IRON PYRTS 107.46 235.91 119.52 0.10
46 WOOL, RAW 167.35 219.66 31.26 0.09
47 ESSENTIAL OIL & COSMETIC PREPN 178.25 214.03 20.07 0.09
48 SYNTHETIC & REGENERATED FIBRES 98.09 163.24 66.43 0.07
49 READYMADE G-MENTS(WOVN&KNIT) 92.52 144.23 55.90 0.06
50 COTTON YARN & FABRICS 134.92 140.04 3.80 0.06
Total 176,360.06 234,094.36 32.74 100.00

About one year ago I did a post on the countries from where India and US import their oil and that might be of interest to you as well.

32 thoughts on “What does India import?”

  1. hi
    i want to become sub distributer of consuming product …which is easy to import with good margen…….
    plz suggest
    chandan kapoor

  2. Hello there, I am representing a company that focuses on international trade. We are interested in starting an import branch in India. If you are a company owner or a representative of a company willing to import products from outside India then please do contact me. If there is a need for any product, we can supply it for you.

    Email- arunknair94@yahoo.com
    (Please subject the email as “India trade request”, thank you!)

  3. my contact no for reference is 9640219389.I AM placed in hyderbad telangana state .SO it would be my pleasure if any one gudie me in import business .

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