India Trade Deficit Overview

By Shivangi Acharya and Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India's merchandise trade deficit in October widened more than expected to $27.14 billion, driven by a rise in imports despite exports increasing year-over-year.

Trade Deficit Insights

Economists had predicted the October trade deficit to be $22 billion, following $20.78 billion in the previous month.

Trade Figures

• Merchandise Exports: October rose 17.26% year-on-year to $39.2 billion.
• Merchandise Imports: Increased by 3.88% to $66.34 billion.
• Past figures showed September exports at $34.58 billion and imports at $55.36 billion.

Future Outlook

India's total exports are anticipated to exceed $800 billion for the fiscal year ending March 2025. Trade Secretary Sunil Barthwal indicated that export performance remains strong due to the government's strategy focusing on selective products and markets.

In the last fiscal year, total exports reached $776.68 billion, remaining stable from the previous year.

Focused Sectors

Engineering and electronic goods are highlighted as strong sectors:
– Engineering Exports: Grew to $67.49 billion from $61.5 billion year-on-year during April-October.
– Electronics Goods Shipments: Increased to $19.07 billion from $15.42 billion in the same period.

Additional Metrics

From April-October, the merchandise trade deficit rose to $164.65 billion, a 10% increase from $149.67 billion last year.

In October, services exports were estimated at $34.02 billion, while imports were $17 billion, compared to $30.61 billion and $16.32 billion, respectively, in the previous month.

Import Details

• Gold Imports: Rose to $7.13 billion from $4.39 billion in the previous month.
• Crude Oil Imports: Increased to $18.2 billion from $12.5 billion.

In August, bullion imports peaked at $10.06 billion, marking the highest since March 2021, following a government tariff cut on gold imports in July.