Recently the ministry of commerce released the data for the month of March 22 for the exports and imports of all commodities at the granularity of 8 digit HSCode. I aggregated this data for the FY21–22 for Electronics. This note is a snapshot of the export and import data in two dimensions — 8 digits HSCode (Top 30 Nos) on the y-axis & Countries (Top 15 Nos) on the x-axis for the financial year FY21–22. The items & countries are sorted on the basis of their ranking of the grand total across rows and columns for each entity in their respective dimensions. The purpose of this note is to enable us with a bird’s eye view of our accomplishments and an easy reference for making further improvements. While doing so I have noted that some of the HSCode has been changed prospectively based on DGFT’s notification dated 9th Feb 2022. These changes in HSCodes have been marked against each item of the matrix for easy identification. Also, note that the mapping of country-wise HSCode with principle commodity is not available directly from a ready-to-use table, and hence to establish this relationship I had to cross-link two different tables.
Export Matrix
The following table list the “export matrix” for Electronics for FY 21–22.
Note, mobile phone (including smartphones, but other than push-button type) is top on the list, with an export value of $3.8 Billion. This constitutes 25.5% of our total exports. The other items are way below as compared to this item. The total value of exports stands at $ 15 Billion (approximately). Note that even though the HSCode of the Smartphone has changed to 85171300, I could not any reference for this code in the commerce ministry’s database.
Most of our exports are to the USA at $ 2.6 Billion, followed by UAE at $ 2.4 Billion, and then China at $ 889 Million. These three countries constitute 39% of all our exports.
Import Matrix
The following table lists the “import matrix” for Electronics for FY 21–22.
Note, that the monolithic digital IC tops the list with $8 Billion, it is followed by Parts of Mobile Phones at $7.4 Billion, and then PC & Laptops at $ 7.3 Billion. Note these three items constitute 33% of our total imports.
Most of our imports are from China at $ 33.6 Billion, followed by Hongkong $10.2 Billion, and followed by Singapore at $4.7 Billion. China alone constitutes 49% of all our electronic imports. If we add Hongkong to that basket, then this number expands to 56%.
Note in spite of PLI, we have still imported mobile phones worth $1.07 Billion. This is 28% of the number we have exported this financial year.
Conclusion
Looks like our dependency on China for the export of electronic items is still very significant. Mobile export numbers are also looking moderate if we rely on the commerce ministry's current classification. I am not sure if the HSCode changes have been accurately reflected in the commerce ministry database. But since the notification was issued on 9th Feb 2022, any discrepancy if at all is there must be minimal. Hopefully, these numbers will look better in the next financial year.
(Views expressed are of my own and do not reflect that of my employer)
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