India's exports registered a positive change after four months, posting a marginal 0.7% growth to USD 41.97 billion in March. The nation's overall goods and services exports touched a record high of USD 820 billion in the last fiscal year despite the continued global economic downturn.
Yet, the month's trade deficit widened to USD 21.54 billion from USD 15.33 billion in March 2023 and USD 14.05 billion in February 2024.
During the April-March fiscal year 2024-25, exports went up marginally by 0.08% to USD 437.42 billion, but imports jumped 6.62% to USD 720.24 billion. This resulted in a trade deficit of USD 282.82 billion, from USD 241.14 billion in 2023-24.
Merchandise exports in March exceeded the performance of the last 11 months, with a strong rebound. Imports also recorded an increase, rising 11.3% year-on-year to USD 63.51 billion in March.
India's overall exports of goods and services during 2024-25 are expected to reach a "record" of USD 820.93 billion, a 5.5% rise over the last fiscal year when they were at USD 778.13 billion.
Services exports accounted for USD 383.51 billion during 2024-25, as opposed to USD 341.06 billion in 2023-24, and imports increased to USD 194.95 billion from USD 178.31 billion over the same period.
Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that even with international challenges like geopolitical tensions causing sea routes to be disrupted and recessions in some nations, India's merchandise exports recorded their all-time highest numbers in 2024-25. He further added that total shipments also reached a record high, with an internal estimate anticipating a two-billion-dollar increase in total exports for 2024-25.
The major contributors to this growth are sectors such as engineering, electronics, pharmaceuticals, textiles (especially ready-made garments), rice, cotton yarn and fabrics, plastics, coffee, spices, tea, and tobacco.
Engineering exports in 2024-25 recorded a record USD 116.67 billion from USD 109.3 billion recorded in the earlier year. Electronics exports increased to USD 38.38 billion from USD 29.12 billion, and pharmaceutical exports increased to USD 30.47 billion from USD 27.85 billion. Ready-made garments earned USD 15.99 billion from exports, while rice exports earned USD 12.47 billion. The other export sectors such as cotton yarn/fabrics and plastics also experienced the growth, their figures being USD 12.06 billion and USD 8.92 billion, respectively.
On the other hand, some industries had their exports reduce, such as petroleum products, which fell to USD 63.34 billion from USD 84.16 billion, gems and jewellery, which reduced to USD 29.81 billion from USD 32.17 billion, and chemicals, which fell to USD 28.7 billion from USD 29.38 billion.
Gold imports jumped to USD 58.01 billion in 2024-25 from USD 45.54 billion, led by the surge in gold prices. In volume, though, imports slipped to 757.15 tonnes from 795.32 tonnes in the last fiscal.
Other import groups that recorded an increase included crude oil, which amounted to USD 185.78 billion against USD 178.73 billion in 2023-24, and electronics, which grew to USD 98.73 billion from USD 87.86 billion. Coal and coke imports fell to USD 31.09 billion from USD 38.88 billion.
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