India’s merchandise exports rose 9.03% year-on-year to $38.49 billion in April 2025, driven by sectors like engineering goods, petroleum, and electronics. However, the country’s trade deficit widened to a five-month high of $26.42 billion due to a sharper 19.12% rise in imports, which reached $64.91 billion—mainly from crude oil and electronic items.
Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal acknowledged the challenges exporters faced last year due to disrupted trade routes and high logistics costs but praised their resilience. He expressed optimism that the momentum would continue. Exporters’ body FIEO emphasized the need for stable policies, better logistics, trade facilitation, and speedy FTA negotiations with partners like the UK, US, and GCC to sustain this growth.
Nine out of the top ten export categories grew in April, including electronics, gems & jewellery, pharma, textiles, and rice. Only chemicals showed a minor decline. Meanwhile, crude oil imports surged 25.6% to $20.7 billion and gold imports rose 4.86%. Overall, in FY25 so far, India’s goods exports have seen marginal growth of 0.08%, reaching $437.42 billion.