Representative image for exports.
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New Delhi: India's exports turned positive after four months, recording a marginal 0.7 per cent increase to $ 41.97 billion in March, while overall exports of goods and services have crossed an all-time high of $ 820 billion in the last fiscal despite global economic uncertainties.
India's trade deficit widened to $21.54 billion in March from $14.05 billion recorded in the previous month due to a sharp jump in imports, official data showed on Tuesday.
The country’s merchandise imports surged by 11.3% year-on-year to $63.51 billion in March, while imports increased marginally by 0.7% to $41.97 billion during the month under review.
Cumulative exports for the full financial year 2024-25 stood at $437.42 billion, which is marginally higher than the previous year's $437.07 billion.
Cumulative imports during the financial year 2024-25 jumped by 6.62% to $720.24 billion. The jump in imports has led to widening in trade deficit $282.82 billion during the year ended March 2025.
India’s overall exports (merchandise and services combined) increased by 5.5% to $820.93 billion in 2024-25.
The sluggish increase in merchandise exports in 2024-25, according to officials, was largely due to lower prices of petroleum products. Speaking at a media briefing Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said India witnessed the highest ever export of non-petroleum merchandise during the fiscal year ending March 2025.
“Our overall exports will be the highest ever, and they have crossed a threshold of $820 billion,” Barthwal said.
He added that the overall export figure would be even higher as the final figures of services are yet to be released.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President S C Ralhan said a 5.5% increase in overall exports highlighted the “strong performance of the services sector, which played a key role in offsetting the modest growth in merchandise exports.”
"The merchandise export data belied expectations of a front loading of shipments ahead of the proposed tariffs, contributing to a higher-than-expected deficit figure. We now anticipate a current account surplus of US$1-3 billion in Q4 FY2025, with a full year deficit of around 0.9% of GDP," said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist at ICRA.