Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has held “candid” talks with her Chinese counterpart Zhong Shan over India’s ballooning trade deficit with China which has crossed over $52 billion and sought a level playing field for Indian IT and agro products.

India’s trade deficit with China in 2015-16 swelled to $52.68 billion, which Indian officials say has become unsustainable. Besides pressing for access to IT and pharma products, the main stay of India’s global exports, India has been insisting that China should compensate by stepping up investments.

“The two Ministers exchanged views, in a candid manner, on further development of a strong, balanced and sustainable trade and investment partnership between India and China,” the Indian Consulate in Shanghai said in a statement today.

“In particular, Minister Sitharaman sought the assistance of Chinese Ministry of Commerce in reducing the trade deficit, facilitating greater market access and for providing a level playing field for Indian IT, pharmaceuticals and agro products in China,” it said.

The meeting between Sitharaman and Zhong was the second after their meeting on the sidelines of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting in Hanoi in May.

The ministers also agreed to further intensify India-China cooperation in the multilateral frameworks such as WTO, BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the statement said.

They decided to hold the 11th Joint Economic Group (JEG) in New Delhi at the earliest.

A host of BRICS ministerial and officials meeting on various fields were being held in China ahead of the five- nation grouping’s summit to be held in September this year in the Chinese city of Xiamen.