New Delhi: India’s exports grew by 6.03 percent during April-December of the current financial year reaching an estimated USD 602.64 billion, compared to USD 568.36 billion during the same period of the previous financial year, as per the data released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry today.
This upward trend is attributed to a strong showing across both merchandise and services sectors, said Director General Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Sarangi.
DGFT Shri Sarangi said that Merchandise exports totaled USD 321.71 billion in the first nine months of FY2024, a modest 1.6 per cent increase from USD 316.65 billion in the previous year.
Notably, non-petroleum exports in December 2024 saw a healthy increase of 5.05 per cent, reaching USD 33.09 billion, up from USD 31.50 billion in December 2023.
India’s merchandise trade deficit narrowed to USD 21.94 billion in December, down from an all-time high of USD 31.86 billion in November, as gold imports halved to USD 4.7 billion.
Merchandise exports contracted 1 per cent to USD 38.01 billion in December, impacted by ongoing geopolitical tensions. Imports grew 4.9 per cent year-on-year to USD 59.95 billion but declined 6 per cent sequentially after November’s import figures were revised down to USD 63.86 billion.
The April-November import data was also revised downward by USD 17.5 billion to USD 469.3 billion due to calculation errors, primarily in gold imports. Gold import estimates were lowered by USD 11.7 billion during the period, with November witnessing the sharpest revision—down by USD 5 billion to UAD 9.8 billion.
India’s electronics exports rose 35.11 per cent to USD 3.58 billion in December 2024, marking the highest level of shipments in the last 24 months. The robust performance reflects the growing momentum in the country’s electronics manufacturing sector, driven by favourable government policies, increased global demand, and expanding domestic production capacities
Since January this year, the electronic goods exports are recording healthy growth. In October, and November, these shipments were USD 3.43 billion and USD 3.47 billion, respectively.
Similarly, India’s engineering and pharmaceutical exports, too, are recording positive growth since January. It grew 0.63 per cent to USD 2.49 billion in the last month.
Engineering exports, which accounts for about 25 per cent of the country’s total outbound shipments, increased 8.35 per cent to USD 84 billion. Further, the ministry said quarterly also, the country’s exports are consistently growing and have registered a “new record high”.
During April-June, July-September, October-December 2024-25, the shipments stood at USD 198.5 billion, USD 196.1 billion, and USD 208 billion, as against USD 184.5 billion, USD 190.5 billion, and USD 193.4 billion, respectively.