While India imported goods/products accross various commodity groups, worth $380.66 billion during 2015-16as compared to $448.03 billionduring 2014-15, its total import of services was $84.6 billion during 2015-16 compared to $81.6 billion in 2014-15.The details of imports of goods/products may be accessed at http://commerce.nic.in/eidb/icomq.asp.Further, the sector-wise details of India’s trade in services released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the year 2015-16 is annexed.

Consumers have diverse tastes across differentiated products, some of which may not be domestically available with specific characterstics/ features. Thus, India, like most economies, imports goods/services accross vaious commodity categories, even though there may be domestic production of commodities of that type.

To boost manufacturing and improve overall environment for the industry, Government has undertaken initiatives like ‘Make in India’, ‘Digital India’ with an emphasis on ‘ease of doing business’. Policy initiatives on infrastructure like smart cities, railways and industrial corridors and monitoring of their implementation are also a priority for the Government.

This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

Imports of goods and services prompt government manufacturing and ease-of-doing-business initiatives to address consumer demand and industry growth. The document states that India imports a broad range of goods and services and that sector-wise services data are available from the Reserve Bank of India; it explains that imports reflect consumer demand for differentiated products unavailable domestically and points to public data on goods imports. It also describes government policy measures to promote manufacturing and improve the business environment through initiatives such as Make in India, Digital India, ease of doing business reforms, and infrastructure programs including smart cities, railways, and industrial corridors.