India and China are likely to continue their engagement to address bilateral trade concerns ranging from structural imbalances to supply chain issues, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Tuesday.
Agrawal’s comment comes after a meeting between India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping on Saturday on the sidelines of the Brics Summit in New Delhi. Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal also met his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the event.
“Leaders have already guided that both sides should work together to address each other’s concerns and also try to look at structural trade imbalance, supply chain issues, and how to build trust between the two sides,” Agrawal said.
“Keeping the sense of the leaders’ guidance, I think both sides are engaged to understand each others’ position. This was the initial first meeting; there will be more meetings subsequently to take these discussions forward,” he added.
China is India’s top import source, accounting for 17 per cent of India’s total inward shipments in 2025-26 (FY26). India had a trade deficit of $112 billion with China in the last financial year.
India’s exports to China have also been showing considerable momentum in recent months. Shipments to the East Asian nation jumped nearly 37 per cent to $19.47 billion in FY26. With exports at $9.61 billion, China was among the top three export destinations for India in April-August.
Engineering goods, electronic goods, petroleum products, organic and inorganic chemicals, and iron ore are the products that are driving India’s exports to China, Agrawal said.
Besides the trade imbalance, Beijing’s curbs on rare earth and critical mineral supplies are among New Delhi’s trade-related concerns with China.
“These discussions are happening after a long gap so slowly each side will be able to come up with their issues and also their position,” Agrawal said.
“There has been improvement in bilateral relations between the two countries in the last one year — in terms of people-to-people movement, direct connectivity. Gradual confidence is building on both sides now,” the secretary added.
India’s engagement with China has revived recently after the fallout between the two nations in 2020 following the border conflict in the Galwan Valley. While India did not suspend its trade with China in the aftermath of the conflict, New Delhi tightened the rules for Chinese investments into India.
The Brics Summit marked Xi’s first visit to India in seven years. Structural trade imbalance, supply chain issues, and facilitating meaningful and predictable market access also featured in discussions between Modi and Xi.
Besides China, New Delhi also remains engaged with other regions to boost trade. India and New Zealand are expected to implement their free trade agreement (FTA) in the latter half of October, Agrawal said.
“The agreement will get operationalised in the latter half of October. We will be announcing the exact date soon once we have taken stock of the operationalisation procedure,” he said. Both sides had signed the deal in April.
India’s FTA with the European Union (EU) is also moving as per schedule. “We expect to sign it before the end of this year,” the secretary said.
India is also holding the fourth round of negotiations for an FTA with Canada in New Delhi, which will conclude on Friday. Both sides have concluded negotiations on two chapters already, Agrawal said.
“It is going to be an intense week of negotiations (with Canada) because we are looking at a very tight timeline. Both sides are working to close the agreement by the end of this year or earlier,” he added.
