India heavily dependent on China in over $30 billion worth of products

India's dependence on China runs deep

China’s lifting of restrictions on rare earths, fertilisers and tunnel boring machines is expected to provide some relief to the Indian industry, but a Moneycontrol analysis shows that New Delhi’s dependence on Beijing extends far beyond these categories.

India was heavily reliant on China for over $30 billion worth of imports in FY25, roughly a third of its total imports from the East Asian giant. Of the nearly 2,000 commodities worth more than $5 million that India sourced from China, there were 603 items where over two-thirds of India’s imports came from China.

In 416 categories alone, accounting for $25.2 billion of trade, China’s share in India’s imports has actually risen since pre-pandemic levels. Fertilisers, rare earth elements and tunnel-boring machinery parts are among the key products where dependence has deepened.

For instance, China supplied just 5.8 percent of India’s ammonium sulphate imports in FY19; by FY25, that share had surged to 62.6 percent. Across the fertiliser basket, Beijing’s contribution has climbed to 35 percent, up from 26.5 percent six years earlier. In rare earths, China’s share rose from 62 percent in FY19 to more than 65 percent in FY24, even as it imposed export controls earlier this year.

The reliance is most stark in the pharmaceutical sector. In 59 categories worth $1.3 billion, China accounts for virtually 100 percent of India’s imports. A further $5 billion worth of imports, including pharmaceutical ingredients and display products such as LCDs and OLEDs, come almost exclusively from China, with a 90 percent-plus share.

The trend extends to another $19 billion of products where China’s share is between 75–90 percent. This includes critical items such as furnaces, ovens, and personal computers, which alone made up $4 billion worth of imports in FY25.