China’s Trade Surplus Topped $1 Trillion. What Does India Still Import to Make Electronics?

China sold $1.04 trillion more in goods to the world than it bought between January and October 2026, according to customs figures released on 10 November. India has an export boom of its own.

In September, it shipped $5.31 billion in electronics, up from $3.11 billion a year earlier. It also bought more from China. The value of all Indian goods imports from China rose 27.82% in the six months through September. The figures cover different periods and products, but they point to a question worth asking. When India sells more electronics abroad, how much of what goes into them is made here?

How can India export more electronics and still buy more from China?

A factory can buy parts abroad, put them together in India and sell the finished product overseas. Imagine an Indian phone maker buying a screen module from China. Customs records the module as an import when it arrives. Once the factory fits it into a phone and ships that phone overseas, customs records the entire handset as an Indian export. More phone orders can therefore mean more orders for imported parts.

There’s a real manufacturing shift behind the example. Apple has expanded iPhone production in India since 2017, with Foxconn and Tata as its main contract manufacturers, Reuters reported on 10 November. The screen example illustrates how trade is counted. The national data cannot tell us where the screen in a particular iPhone came from.

What does China’s $1 trillion trade surplus actually measure?

It’s the value of goods China sold abroad minus the value of goods it bought from abroad. That $1.04 trillion covers China’s trade with the whole world over ten months. India’s trade deficit with China is a separate calculation covering just the two countries. And the surplus tells us nothing about how much profit an exporter made after paying for parts, wages and transport.

How did China’s exports jump while its monthly surplus shrank?

October’s gap between exports and imports was about $105.3 billion, down from $133.5 billion in September as imports picked up. Compared with October a year earlier, exports rose 35.2% and imports rose 41.6%. Electronics and cars helped drive exports, while a recovery in crude oil shipments helped lift imports, AP reported. China still crossed $1 trillion for the year to date because it had already built up large surpluses in earlier months. It reached the mark a month earlier than in 2025.

Which parts does India still buy heavily from China?

China reportedly supplied at least 80% of India’s imports in 71 categories of electrical and electronic goods in 2025–26, according to a study by the Institute of Chinese Studies and Koan Advisory. The list included motors, cables and switching equipment. China also supplied 83.6% of imports in the study’s lithium-ion battery category. Those percentages are shares of what India bought from abroad. They do not tell us how much India made at home or how much of any one phone came from China.

Which parts of a phone can India make?

Making a phone involves several jobs. One factory can make the printed circuit board that connects the phone’s components. Another can mount components on it. A supplier can make the casing or put together a camera module from smaller parts. Each step can happen in India while some of the materials or parts still come from abroad. India’s Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme targets multilayer circuit boards, display modules and camera modules, among other products. The practical test is whether local suppliers can make those parts at the quality and volume phone makers need.

How much of an Indian phone export is actually made in India?

You need a measure called domestic value added. Customs counts the full export value of the handset, including imported components. Domestic value added estimates what was created in India, including work at the factory and the contribution of local suppliers. India’s electronics ministry cites an evaluation of its large-scale electronics incentive scheme that put domestic value addition at 23% in FY2023–24. That gives us a benchmark for the scheme and the year it studied. For a particular phone today, you would need the model’s parts list and supplier records.

Why can’t factories switch suppliers faster?

A replacement part has to fit the design, pass testing and arrive in enough volume to keep the line running. Even if two suppliers offer the same finished module, both may buy a key subcomponent from the same source. The useful question for a factory is whether it has a second supplier that can deliver when the first one cannot. Building more component capacity in India can give manufacturers more of those options.

What would show India is making more of what it exports?

Look for Indian plants delivering components that manufacturers actually use at scale. Then check whether more of the finished product’s value is being created here. The trade ministry’s database can show whether India is buying a particular part from fewer or more countries. Factory and supplier records can show how much of that part is being made here and where it goes. The next export jump will tell us how much India shipped. Those records will tell us how much more India made.