India said on Thursday it was keen to sell more rice and sugar to China to bridge a widening trade deficit and cleared five more rice mills for exports of non-basmati varieties of the grain, taking the total to 25.

India, which sent its first consignment of 100 tonnes non-basmati rice to China last month, said the south Asian nation has potential to export 1 million tonnes of rice to China "in a few years".

India's trade ministry also said in a statement the country could sell 500,000 tonnes of rapeseed meal to China every year after Beijing recently lifted a ban on imports of the animal feed from India.