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China-India trade rises as Chinese investment in India drops
Bilateral trade more than doubled from $71.5 billion in 2016 to $151.1 billion in 2025-26, while Chinese investment in India fell from $705 million in 2015 to $6.5 million last year.
China and India are heading into renewed high-level engagement, with President Xi Jinping expected to arrive in New Delhi for the BRICS summit later this week, carrying an expected delegation of 400 officials, according to SCMP Economy.
Despite the political contact between Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a summit in Bishkek last week, the economic relationship has shifted, SCMP Economy reports. Between 2016 and 2025-26, bilateral trade more than doubled from US$71.5 billion to US$151.1 billion.
Over the same period, Chinese investment in India has moved in the opposite direction, SCMP Economy says. Chinese investments in India fell from US$705 million in 2015 to just US$6.5 million last year, even as India’s imports of Chinese capital goods increased.
SCMP Economy links the divergence to India’s growing reliance on Chinese supply, particularly where domestic alternatives are limited. It argues that restricting Chinese investment has worsened India’s trade deficit, and concludes that India’s path to greater economic sovereignty should involve expanding foreign direct investment from China rather than limiting it.