South Africa was a major trading partner of India prior to 1946 and accounted for 5 per cent of India's total exports in 1946. Though links with South Africa were broken off after the introduction of trade sanctions against South Africa. Indian products found their way into South Africa through transit points like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, UK, etc. Goods entering the South African market through third destinations were estimated at 5 200-300 million per Year. The main items of India's exports were tea, coffee, cashew, spices and textiles. The bilateral trade between India and South Africa was resumed in 1992-93. During 1992-93 the total trade turnover was around US $ 2 million only. Since then, there is a significant increase in the bilateral trade between India and South Africa. In 1994-95, it reached US $ 311 million and in 1996-97, US $ 634.76 million. This does not include the value of the 60 percent of South Africa's diamonds which come to India for polishing and processing. Our bilateral trade is poised to cross the US $ 2 billion mark by 1999-2000.

Year	India's Exports	India's Imports	Total Trade	Trade Balance
1992-93	1.62	0.08	1.70	1.55
1993-94	27.38	30.31	57.69	-2.94
1994-95	156.52	154.70	311.22	1.82
1995-96	329.52	243.86	573.38	85.86
1996-97	329.54	305.22	634.76	24.32