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.
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.
hi,
I wants to start small import food and electrical products, sub distributor at low expence .
Pls suggest.
Hi ,
I want some information about import product in India i want to become sub distributor ,to produce products for Indian Consumers .
Pls suggest
I couldn’t resist commenting. Well written!
I want start small import product for our nation . At low expence .and serve our nation.so please advise me asap.
I m looking for industrial supplies products pl? contact me
Hi,
I would like to start my own business. My father had started his business of pest control services which deals with Chemicals/insecticides. I tried to get involved in it but couldn’t because of hazardous nature of the chemical. I had to back out from it and resumed my career in IT but I am not happy at what I am doing currently. I want to start my own things which I think I would be able to pour my heart and mind into. I believe in our PM and he has been very encouraging youth of India. I need some guidance some sort of direction in choosing A product to manufacture. Can Someone Please Help Me?
i want to start a small industry,
plzzz suggest me some of d important imported goods in India
which i can produce in India for Indian consumers, as per their
demand in cuming future India..
I want to start a Manufacturing Plant of things, parts and materials which are not manufactured in India(I.e., which India imports). And thus provide a helping hand in “Make in India” scheme by INDIAN Govt. Could you suggest me some parts or material that India imports or Indian Market/Buisness needs atmost? It should be such a part/material whose raw materials should be eeasily available or atleast feasibly manufactured in our nation. Your help to our Project will be extremely appreciated. Being an Indian Youth, I expect you to guide me.
Thank you for your Time.
Ashwin
Did u find any product to manufacture in INDIA to help boost make in INDIA scheme ?
do share your insight , i have the same query
i want some information about import product.and i want produce that product in india
basically i am a commerce student so i want other then cheical items
Major import items and country
Agr hm sb chahte hain ki hmare desh me ek rupiya ek $ me equal ho to ap sbhi se request h hmare desh me ban ne wali things ko maximum use kro yhi ek way h jisse hm apne desh ki hor hmare desh ki currency ki value bda skte hain thanku
Hi,
How can we come to know about the product which has cheaper production
cost?
Will the govt assist us by giving subsidies?
Which import product is easier for us to produce or manufacture?
Pls suggset.
Thank you.
hiii…..
plzzz send me your email id.
i want some information about import product.and i want produce that product in india
i want a sub-distributer of consumer product.
please advice me.
thanks.
India seems to be importing a ton of gold. Does this bode well for gold prices going into the future? Also, those oil imports could get complicated with the whole Iran situation.
hi
i want to become sub distributer of consuming items …. which is easy to import n with n good margen …….plz suggest
Hlw manshu . great job . it;s really a awesome article . keep it up
Hey Manshu!!
Happy new year and thanks for this excellent article again. Your blog is not just about presenting financial information. The way of presentation is by far the best i have seen across all such financial blogs. Cheers dude! Keep the great work up!
Happy new year Mithlesh!
Thanks a lot – I want to reach the level I see very commonly in good infographics but I’m still quite some distance away from that. Hopefully I can get closer this year.
What strikes me in this data are the figures for VEGETABLE OILS FIXED (EDIBLE), with a growth rate of 54% for the year.
This should be a low hanging fruit to plu(g). Not sure why we are still not self-sufficient on a basic Agri commodity. These days I see so many different types of oils on shopping mall shelves which were not popular say 10 years back like grape seed oil, cooking olive oil…
But still we have this scarcity… hmm… this one could be an interesting input for some one who wants to go into agri production.
We produce a lot of milk, fruits, tea, coffee but it still isn’t cheap – on the contrary most Indians can’t even afford these things. I think it’s largely attributable to waste and inefficient public distribution system.
From the point of view of making it available cheap for our country folks. Yes, you are right more production doesn’t imply cheap availability. But from the point of view of stopping the outgo of Forex for such a basic agri commodity, i think it makes sense for us as Indian’s to produce more of edible oil, isn’t it ? Unless of course there are other reasons like it’s much cheaper to import it than to produce or it takes some special type of soil which we don’t have in abundance. Oh by the way, just as a side note did you know India is the largest producer of Castor oil in the world. Any idea how does the price of castor oil (part of the normal lubricants) in India compare to that of the rest of the world ?
Hi Manshu
It is interesting to note that gold and pearls constitute a substantial part of our imports.
Yeah and one of the things that occurred to me was that it should be gold ETF led demand which would have been a part of this import, and as gold prices cool off the gold imports should also cool off.