India's merchandise trade deficit widened to $30.43 billion in June as a sharp rise in imports of electronics, petroleum products and gold outpaced export growth, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce on Monday.
Merchandise exports rose 15.5% year-on-year to $40.41 billion in June, while imports grew nearly 31% to $70.84 billion, pushing the monthly trade gap to $30.43 billion, compared with $19.10 billion in June 2025.
"The trade balance in petroleum products is down. We have imported an additional $11 billion but exported around $6 billion. So there's a deficit of $5 billion in the first quarter. Similarly, in electronics also, our consumption has been going up," Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said.
Gold, electronics and petroleum products together accounted for a cumulative trade deficit of $65.9 billion during the April-June quarter.
Electronics imports in June surged 59% year-on-year, while petroleum product imports rose 40%. Although the growth in gold imports moderated to 7% in June, imports during the April-June quarter were still 47% higher than a year earlier.
Despite the widening merchandise trade gap, India's overall export momentum remained strong. Total exports, including services, increased 9.48% to $73.45 billion in June. However, total imports grew at a faster 26.85%, resulting in an overall trade deficit of $15.32 billion.
The data also showed continued diversification of India's export markets. During the first quarter of FY27, exports to South Africa, Kenya and Singapore grew 76.5%, 60% and 101.2%, respectively, compared with the same period last year.
Exports to the United States remained broadly flat during the quarter, while shipments to China rose 27.5% to $5.60 billion from $4.39 billion a year earlier. Imports from China also increased nearly 28% to $38.04 billion during the quarter.
Trade with West Asia also showed signs of recovery. Exports to the region rose to nearly $5 billion in June 2026 from $4.67 billion a year earlier.
"For West Asia, our growth recovery has started. We went down in March 2026. We improved in April. We caught up around May and in June, on a year-on-year basis, we have more or less evened out. Exports in June 2026 are 7.29% higher than last year," Agrawal said.
For the first quarter of FY27, cumulative merchandise exports increased 15.92% to $129.32 billion, while total exports of goods and services rose 11.37% to $232.73 billion.
