One of the most important phenomena in post-war economic history has been the enormous expansion of world trade. Indian trade grew poorly from 1950 to 1980 as compared with the world. However, from 1980 onwards, Indian exports have been rising at one and a half times the pace of growth in world exports as can be seen from this chart.
In 1993, India ranked 33rd in top exporting countries and 32nd in top importing countries.
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India World
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1970 1992 1970 1992
(% share in total merchandise)
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Structure of exports
Fuels,minerals and metals 13 8 16 12
Other primary commodities 35 21 20 13
Machinery & transport equipment 5 7 29 37
Other manufactures 47 6 34 39
Textiles and clothing 25 25 6 7
Structure of imports
Food 21 5 15 10
Fuels 8 23 10 9
Other primary commodities 19 12 14 6
Machinery & transport equipment 23 18 27 35
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Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, Bombay
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Last updated: May 1995.