Modi, Xi Push Business Links at BRICS Summit — SkimNews
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- Modi and Xi met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi — Xi's first trip to India in seven years — pledging to expand business linkages, cultural exchanges, and transport links between their countries.
- Bilateral trade between India and China hit a record $155.6 billion in 2025, but India runs a trade deficit exceeding $100 billion, with imports from China reaching about $132 billion in fiscal 2025/26 against far smaller Indian exports.
- China has become India's largest source of imports, underscoring the structural asymmetry New Delhi flagged as a core concern in the talks.
- Ties recovery began at the end of 2024 after Xi and Modi agreed to end a military stand-off in the western Himalayas, following a 2020 border skirmish that killed 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.
- Businesses in both countries still face red tape, visa delays, and restrictions on selling industrial equipment despite the diplomatic thaw.
- Modi told Xi that border peace remains an essential basis for continued bilateral development, while both nations continue to maintain substantial military deployments along the roughly 3,800-km Himalayan border.
Why it matters: India's $100 billion-plus deficit with its largest import source gives New Delhi real leverage in any 'business links' push, and Modi's insistence that border peace is the foundation shows India won't deepen commercial ties without sustained de-escalation on the 3,800-km frontier. For Beijing, Xi's first India visit in seven years — staged at a BRICS venue — re-anchors a key Asian relationship even as underlying border talks move slowly.
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