India’s merchandise and services exports registered a robust performance in the first four months of FY 2025–26, touching US$ 277.63 billion, marking a 5.23% growth compared to US$ 263.83 billion in the same period last year, according to provisional trade data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

Merchandise exports stood at US$ 149.20 billion during April–July 2025, up 3.07% from US$ 144.76 billion a year ago. Services exports were estimated at US$ 128.43 billion, reflecting a healthy growth of 7.86% over US$ 119.07 billion in April–July 2024.

Sectoral Growth Drivers

Export momentum in July 2025 was powered by strong performance in several sectors:

• Engineering Goods surged 13.75% to US$ 10.43 billion.
• Electronic Goods jumped 33.89% to US$ 3.77 billion.
• Gems & Jewellery rose 28.95% to US$ 2.39 billion.
• Drugs & Pharmaceuticals increased 14.06% to US$ 2.66 billion.
• Organic & Inorganic Chemicals grew 7.19% to US$ 2.47 billion.

Other commodities such as cereals (72%), coffee (67.5%), and meat, dairy & poultry products (31.2%) also registered significant growth.

Trade Balance and Imports

Despite export growth, India’s trade deficit widened slightly.

• Total imports (merchandise + services) during April–July 2025 were estimated at US$ 308.91 billion, up from US$ 296.32 billion in the same period last year.
• The cumulative trade deficit stood at US$ 31.28 billion, compared to US$ 32.48 billion in April–July 2024, reflecting a marginal improvement.
• Merchandise imports increased by 5.36%, touching US$ 244.01 billion, with strong inflows from China, the UAE, the U.S., Ireland, and Hong Kong.

July 2025 Snapshot

For July alone, India’s exports stood at US$ 68.27 billion, a growth of 4.52% over July 2024. Imports in the month rose by 6.07% to US$ 79.99 billion, leaving a trade deficit of US$ 11.72 billion.

Services Surplus Cushions Deficit

The services sector remained a bright spot, with exports estimated at US$ 31.03 billion in July 2025, slightly higher than US$ 30.60 billion in July 2024. Imports of services, however, declined to US$ 15.40 billion from US$ 15.94 billion.

This helped maintain a services trade surplus of US$ 63.53 billion for April–July 2025, compared to US$ 54.34 billionin the same period last year.

Key Markets

The top export destinations showing strong growth in July 2025 were:

• USA (+19.94%)
• UAE (+11.69%)
• China (+27.39%)
• Spain (+60.12%)
• Hong Kong (+66.43%)

On the import side, India’s purchases from Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Peru, and the USA showed significant jumps.

Outlook

With steady growth in non-petroleum exports (+7.7%) and resilience in services, India’s trade outlook for FY 2025–26 remains positive despite global economic headwinds. Policymakers are expected to focus on reducing dependency on costly imports while supporting export-oriented industries such as electronics, pharmaceuticals, and engineering goods.

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