India’s engineering goods fast losing Chinese market

Amidst concerns over widening trade deficit with China, India's engineering exports to the country dropped by 45 per cent to $584.10 million during April-September, reflecting subdued demand in some of the core sectors like non-ferrous metals, according to a report.

The analysis by engineering exporters' body EEPC India shows that India's engineering exports are "fast losing a huge Chinese market, falling by annualised 57 per cent in September to $92.57 million from $216 million a year ago".

"For the cumulative period of April-September this year, the country's engineering exports to China dropped by a sharp 45 per cent to $584.10 million over $1.06 billion in the first half of the previous fiscal," EEPC India noted.

The sharpest decline in shipments to China was witnessed in non-ferrous metals, as much as 78 per cent from $631.17 million in April-September 2015-16 to $139.50 million. "China as an export destination has been a disappointing story this year. This is reflective of continuous weaknesses in the core sectors of the economy, which is also somewhat a case in major economies," EEPC India Chairman T S Bhasin said.

However, neighbouring countries Nepal and Bangladesh sprang a surprise for India's engineering exports, helping reverse its fortunes.

The engineering dispatches to Bangladesh, on the back of a growing economy, rose to $146 million in September from $121 million in the same month last year.

For the first half of the current fiscal, shipments to Bangladesh went up to $919 million from $687 million.

Likewise, engineering consignments to Nepal for September jumped to $178.55 million from $64.60 million.

For the April-September period, shipments to the country grew to $1.06 billion from $755 million. Overall, the country's engineering exports moved up to $5 billion in September from $4.7 billion during the same month last year. India's trade deficit with China swelled to $52.68 billion in 2015-16, from $48.48 billion in the previous fiscal.