China is India's second biggest trading partner after the United States. In 2021-22, India-China bilateral trade stood at 115.83 billion dollars, which was 11.19 percent of India's total merchandise trade of 1035 billion dollars. The US was just a notch above, with an 11.54 percent, or 119.48 billion dollar, share.

Till 20 years ago, China figured at the 10th position in 2001-02 or lower, at the 12th position in 2000-01, the 16th in 1999-2000 and the 18th in 1998-99. However, from 2002-03 it started an upward march and became India's top trading partner in 2011-12. In the next year the UAE dislodged it to the second place.

However, China bounced back and again became India's top trading partner in 2013-14, and remained there till 2017-18. For the next two years, 2018-19 and 2019-20, the US was at the top, but in 2020-21 China again became India's number one trading partner.

While China and the US have both been India's top trading partners in recent years, there is a big difference between the trade with the world's two largest economies. While with the US India had a trade surplus of 32.85 billion dollars during 2021-22, with China it had a trade deficit of 73.31 billion dollars, the highest for any country. In fact, India's trade deficit with China during 2021-22 was an all-time high.