Context: Recently, China has regained its position as India’s top trade partner in 2020.
Reasons for China being a top trading partner of India

• The New Delhi’s reliance on imported machines outweighed its efforts to curb commerce with Beijing after a bloody border conflict.
• The India’s commerce ministry has provided that the two-way trade between the longstanding economic and strategic rivals stood at $77.7 billion in 2020.
• India continues to rely heavily on Chinese-made heavy machinery, telecom equipment and home appliances.
• The total imports from China at $58.7 billion were more than India’s combined purchases from the U.S. and the U.A.E, which are its second- and third-largest trade partners, respectively.
• The electrical machinery and equipment, at $17.82 billion, and nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, at $12.35 billion, continued to top the goods imported from China in 2020.

Measures adopted by India to reduce dependence on China

• India banned hundreds of Chinese apps which slowed approvals for investments from the neighbor and called for self-reliance after a deadly clash along their disputed Himalayan border.
• India managed to lower imports from its Asian neighbor amid demand disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
• India also managed to increase its exports to China by about 11% from a year ago to $19 billion in 2019.
• New Delhi has been slow to issue visas to Chinese engineers needed to help Taiwanese companies set up factories under a so-called production-linked incentive program, or PLI, to promote local manufacturing.