A 61% drop in gold and 30% drop in petroleum imports led to an overall 16.34% fall in goods imports in February, which resulted in India’s merchandise trade deficit shrinking to $14 billion, the lowest in 42 months. In comparison, merchandise exports also fell by 11% during the month to 36.91 billion. The merchandise trade deficit in January was $19.5 billion.
Gold imports fell from $6.15 billion in February 2024 to $2.34 billion in February 2025. Petroleum import bill shrank 29.5% to $11.9 billion in February, down from 16.9 billion in the same month last year. Silver imports also witnessed sharp decline to $430 million from $1.7 billion a year ago. Other major falls were witnessed in imports of pearls, precious & semi-precious stones (-41.61%), Coal, Coke & Briquettes, etc (-35.63%), and Iron & Steel (-23.37%).
Major exports which witnessed decline in February include petroleum products (-29%), Organic & Inorganic Chemicals (-24.5%), and gold & Jewellery (-20.74%).
Goods, which showed a major jump in exports during the month, include tobacco (26.76%), electronic goods (26.46%), Mica, Coal & Other Ores, Minerals Including Processed Minerals (24.25%), Coffee (22.32%), Rice (13.21%), etc.
In the first 11-month of the current financial year, India’s merchandise exports remained flat at $395 billion, while imports rose by 6% to $667 billion. Total exports of services and goods in the April-February period has already crossed $750 billion, just $28 shy of crossing FY24 exports figure of $778 billion.
Speaking to the media during the announcement of the February trade data, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that despite a difficult year, the government is very confident of crossing the total exports of $800 billion in the current financial year. The commerce secretary attributed the fall in exports and imports of petroleum products to decline in international crude prices.
Meanwhile, amidst the threat of reciprocal tax from the US government, Indian exports to the US continue to see growth, rising by 10.4% to $7.9 billion in the February and by 9.1% in the April-February period during which goods worth $76.4 billion were supplied to the North American country. Imports to China in the April-February period grew by 10.5% to $104 billion.