The country’s trade deficit narrowed to a four-month low of $18.78 billion in June despite exports remained flat at $35.14 billion during the month, the government data showed on Tuesday. Exports in June the previous year were at $35.16 billion.
The fall in imports helped pare the trade deficit for the month under review. Imports declined 3.71% year-on-year to $53.92 billion during the month due to a fall in the inbound shipments of crude oil and gold. Major export sectors, including petroleum, fabrics, gems and jewellery, leather, iron ore, oil seeds, cashew, spices, tobacco, and coffee, recorded negative growth during the month under review. The shipments of petroleum products declined 15.92% to $4.61 billion in June, and 15.63% to $17.4 billion during the first quarter.
However, exports of engineering, tea, rice, ready-made garments of all textiles, chemicals, marine products, and pharma have registered a positive growth.
Electronic goods’ shipments witnessed a rise of 46.93% to $4.14 billion in June. It was an increase of 47.11% to $12.4 billion during the April-June quarter of this fiscal. During April-June FY26, exports rose 1.92% to USD 112.17 billion, while imports rose 4.24 per cent to USD 179.44 billion, according to the data. Merchandise trade deficit during April-June 2025 widened to USD 67.26 billion as compared to $62.10 billion in the same quarter last financial year.
Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said the country's goods and services exports during the first quarter of 2025-26 are estimated at $210 billion, which is an increase of about 6% year-on-year. "If the growth continues like this, then we are going to cross last year's exports figures," he said.