China supplies 80%+ of India imports across 71 tariff lines, report finds
China’s import dominance spans key consumer-electronics and EV inputs. Lithium-ion battery imports reached $3.9 billion, with China supplying 83.6%, underscoring localisation and sourcing risks for India’s electronics, mobility and energy-storage sectors.
What happened
retail-company · A study finds China dominates Indian imports of key electronics and EV inputs, including batteries and semiconductors. The growing component
Key facts
- China accounted for at least 80% of India’s imports across 71 eight-digit tariff lines in 2025-26
- 46 tariff lines crossed the 80% China-import threshold after 2018-19
- India’s trade deficit with China was $112.1 billion in 2025-26
- Lithium-ion battery imports from China reached $3.9 billion in 2025-26
- China supplied 83.6% of India’s lithium-ion battery imports
- China accounted for 48.9% of India’s semiconductor imports in 2025-26, versus about 64% in 2024-25
Why this matters
Strategic partnerships, minority investments or acquisitions in domestic battery cells, semiconductor packaging and component manufacturing could reduce dependence across India’s most concentrated import lines.
What to watch
- New Indian tariffs, import licensing rules, BIS/quality-control orders or local-content mandates affecting batteries, electronics components and EV inputs.
- Chinese export restrictions or customs delays involving battery materials, rare earths, chips, displays or electronics manufacturing equipment.
- Changes in India’s lithium-ion battery import value and China share, particularly whether the 83.6% share begins to fall materially.
- Domestic battery-cell, semiconductor packaging, PCB, display and component capacity reaching commercial scale.
- Retail price changes, launch delays, stockout rates and promotional intensity in smartphones, wearables, laptops, EV two-wheelers and home-energy storage.
- Increase safety stock and dual-source plans for lithium-ion batteries, power-management components, displays, chargers and EV-related electronics.
- Rework assortment toward products with domestic assembly or non-China component sourcing, especially in high-volume entry and mid-tier price bands.
- Negotiate supplier contracts with indexed freight, currency and tariff clauses rather than fixed delivered-cost commitments.
- Build repair, refurbishment and trade-in capacity to protect availability and margins if new-device supply tightens.
- Track whether semiconductor-source diversification translates into lower China content at the finished-device bill-of-materials level, not only at import-line level.