This report examines India's shift from a PCB trade deficit to a surplus, focusing on the first five months of FY2026-27. It details how mounted and populated PCBs drove the change, while bare PCBs remain heavily import-dependent. The document also covers the roles of China and Singapore as key trading partners.
This report analyzes India's printed circuit board (PCB) trade, which turned from a deficit into a surplus for the first time in FY2026-27. It is written for industry analysts, policymakers, and electronics manufacturers tracking India's role in global supply chains. The document uses trade data from April to August 2026 to explain what changed and why.
The executive summary states that India exported $2.29 billion in PCBs and imported $1.87 billion in the first five months of FY2026-27, a net surplus of roughly $420 million. This contrasts with full-year deficits of $1.23 billion in FY2025-26 and $2.95 billion in FY2024-25. The reversal is attributed entirely to growth in mounted and populated PCBs, while bare PCBs still show a twelve-to-one import-to-export ratio.
The report defines three PCB categories with their HS codes: bare PCBs (85340000), mounted PCBs (84733030), and populated PCBs (85177910). It explains that mounted PCBs are used in computer hardware, populated PCBs in telecom equipment, and bare PCBs are unpopulated boards. The document consistently uses these category names instead of HS codes throughout the text.
A section on India's electronics trade backdrop places PCBs at about 4 percent of total electronics exports in FY2025-26. The report notes that total electronics imports were $116.1 billion against exports of $48.0 billion that year. It highlights that PCB export value grew roughly sixfold between FY2024-25 and FY2025-26, with imports growing more slowly rather than collapsing.
The country-wise trade position shows China bought $788.99 million of Indian PCBs in the first five months of FY2026-27, but its share fell from 77 percent to 34 percent as Singapore grew faster. Singapore became India's largest PCB export market, with mounted-PCB exports rising from $13.6 million in FY2024-25 to $1.27 billion in the first five months of FY2026-27. On the import side, China supplied $427.4 million of bare-PCB imports and $189.7 million of populated-PCB imports.
The report concludes by examining structural constraints, including bare-board capacity and raw material supply, and outlines what a realistic next step within the PCB value chain might look like. It emphasizes that the growth is concentrated at the assembly stage, not at the base of the value chain.