India’s trade deficit widens to $21.54 billion in March

India's commerce ministry detailed trade figures for March 2024 on April 15

India’s merchandise trade deficit in March widened to $21.54 billion from $14.05 billion in February as imports rose.

On a year-on-year basis, the trade gap in goods in the previous month was wider as well compared to $15.34 in March 2024.

While merchandise exports stayed almost flat on-year in March to $41.97 billion, goods imports increased by 11.4 percent to $63.51 billion, according to provisional data released by commerce ministry on April 15.

For the entirety of 2024-25, while merchandise exports were almost flat on-year at $437.42 billion, imports rose 6 percent to $720.74 billion.

India's goods and services exports in the current fiscal year increased over 5 percent to $820.93 billion from a year ago, while overall inbound shipments rose nearly 7 percent to $915.19 billion.

"Despite WTO's pessimistic outlook on global trade, India has done much better than the globe in FY25," Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on April 15, adding that overall exports is the highest ever, crossing $820 billion in the previous fiscal.