India vows to buy more US goods, January merchandise trade deficit as expected

New Delhi: India on Monday vowed to buy more industrial goods from the United States, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit, while data showed the South Asian country's merchandise trade deficit stood at $22.99 billion in January, in line with expectations.

Economists had estimated the January trade deficit to be $22.35 billion, according to a Reuters poll.

Merchandise exports in January stood at $36.43 billion compared with $38.01 billion in December 2024. The imports for the month were $59.42 billion, while they were at $59.95 billion the month prior.

"Electronics goods (are) driving exports, followed by drugs, pharmaceuticals and rice," Trade Secretary Sunil Barthwal told reporters in New Delhi.

Services exports in January were estimated at $38.55 billion and imports at $18.22 billion against $32.66 billion and $17.50 billion, respectively, in December.

The monthly data comes after Modi's US visit, when the two countries agreed to resolve issues over tariffs and the South Asian country promised to buy more US oil, gas and military equipment.

US President Donald Trump said he will slap reciprocal tariffs on every country that taxes US imports, including India, where the tariffs are one of the highest.

Trump said he will charge India the same tariff as India does US goods.

The US has a $45.6 billion trade deficit with India. Overall, the US trade-weighted average tariff rate has been about 2.2 per cent, according to World Trade Organization data, compared with India's 12 per cent.

New Delhi and Washington have agreed to a "tough" timeline to negotiate the first tranche of a trade deal between the two countries and will find ways to increase US exports of industrial goods, Rajesh Agrawal, a senior Indian trade official said.

India will aim to reduce tariff and seek reduction in certain sectors from the US during the trade negotiations, the officials added.

In January, India's gold imports fell to $2.68 billion from the previous month's $4.7 billion, while crude oil imports fell to $13.4 billion from $15.2 billion in December, data showed.

In December, India's trade ministry scrambled to correct monthly import figures, including for precious metals such as gold from April to November, after uncovering an unprecedented miscalculation due to some double counting.