India adds a billion dollars to China exports, US shipments up 22% despite tariffs

Higher merchandise exports helped narrow India’s trade deficit in November to a five-month low of $24.5 billion.

India added over a billion dollars in exports to China in November 2025 year-over-year, while shipments to the United States saw double-digit growth despite steep reciprocal tariffs.

Merchandise exports to China from India increased by a whopping $1.05 billion to $2.20 billion in November 2025, a growth of over 90 percent year-on-year, while outbound shipments to the US rose more than 22 percent to $6.98 billion during the same period.

This is in line with India’s total merchandise exports, which jumped nearly 20 percent year-on-year to $38.13 billion last month, following a decline of nearly 12 percent in October.

Higher merchandise exports helped narrow India’s trade deficit in November to a five-month low of $24.5 billion.

Given that most Indian exports started facing elevated tariffs of more than 50 percent since August 27, shipments to the US in September fell 21 percent to $5.43 billion from $6.87 billion in August.

Even as exports to the US began rebounding in October with a sequential rise of over 15 percent versus September, year-on-year growth still contracted by nearly 9 percent that month.

However, in November, shipments grew both year-on-year and sequentially by almost 10 percent.

The growth is likely driven by higher exports of items largely unaffected by tariffs, such as smartphones, pharmaceuticals, and petroleum products.

Product-level data for November is yet to be released.

On the other hand, India’s merchandise exports to China have been rising every month this financial year, also climbing over 42 percent in October, helping to ease the impact of steep US tariffs.

In November, outbound shipments to China also increased sequentially by more than 35 percent.

In recent months, products such as petroleum, telecom instruments, and marine goods have driven the surge in Indian exports to Beijing.

Overall sectoral data shows that last month, most Indian exports, including labour-intensive ones that had borne the brunt of higher tariffs in previous months, saw a significant jump.

Labour-intensive exports, such as gems and jewellery, which had dropped by almost 30 percent on-year in October, jumped nearly 28 percent in November. Engineering goods also rose by almost 24 percent after a decline the previous month.

Exports of ready-made garments across all textiles rose over 11 percent year-on-year in November, following a nearly 13 percent decline in October. Leather products also climbed almost 6 percent last month, after falling nearly 16 percent previously.

This rebound in labour-intensive categories could also be attributed to diversification into other markets, as seen in the case of marine products, which continued its growth streak at 15.5 percent in November.

And unsurprisingly, exports in categories, that are also free from reciprocal tariffs in the US, saw strong growth as electronics jumped almost 39 percent, drugs and pharmaceuticals rose nearly 21 percent, and petroleum products grew over 11 percent.