New Delhi: India has recorded a trade deficit, the difference between imports and exports, with nine of its top-10 trading partners, including China, Russia, Singapore, and Korea, in 2023-24, according to official data.

The data also showed that the deficit with China, Russia, Korea, and Hong Kong increased in the last fiscal compared to 2022-23, while the trade gap with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Indonesia, and Iraq narrowed. The trade deficit with China rose to $85 billion, Russia to $57.2 billion, Korea to $14.71 billion and Hong Kong to $12.2 billion in 2023-24 against $83.2 billion, $43 billion, $14.57 billion and $8.38 billion, respectively, in 2022-23.

China has emerged as India’s largest trading partner with $118.4 billion of two-way commerce in 2023-24, edging past the US. The bilateral trade between India and the US stood at $118.28 billion in 2023-24. Washington was the top trading partner of New Delhi during 2021-22 and 2022-23.

India has a free trade agreement (FTA) with four of its top trading partners - Singapore, the UAE, Korea and Indonesia (as part of the Asian bloc).