Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: India closed the last fiscal with record goods exports of $441.8 billion, 1% higher than the previous year, despite being weighed down by the West Asia conflict, which took a toll on March exports. Driven by a surge in gold and silver shipments, imports rose 7.5% to $775 billion, resulting in a trade deficit widening to $333 billion.The overall number would have been higher, but for a 7.6% decline in exports in March to $38.9 billion, but the trade deficit narrowed to a nine-month low of $20.7 billion as imports fell 6.4% to $59.6 billion. Overall exports, including services, rose 4% to a record $860.1 billion, while imports were 6.4% higher at nearly $920 billion.“Bharat sets a new export record! A matter of great pride as India achieves record exports of $860 billion in FY 2025-26,” commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal posted on social media, adding that it came despite global headwinds, reflecting the country’s resilience and growing strength in expanding its global trading footprint.
Commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal said that India’s export grew faster than the global average and came in the backdrop of a tough global environment which included steep US tariffs for a large part of the last financial year to be followed by the Iran war in March.What also hurt exports were the low oil prices in the initial months of last year, which muted the value of diesel and aviation fuel shipments. Non-oil exports were 3.6% higher.“We hope the challenges that we face today will not sustain for long, and we may have smoother trade across the world in months to come,” he said, while banking on trade deals with the UK, Oman and New Zealand to bolster exports this year. Agrawal also said that trade deficit was not a major concern and higher remittances provided comfort on the external front.Record exports in FY26 despite West Asia hitIndia closed the last fiscal with record goods exports of $441.8 billion, 1% higher than the previous year, despite being weighed down by the West Asia conflict, which took a toll on March exports. However, disruption triggered by war cut India’s trade with West Asia over half in March. Commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal said exports crashed 57.9% last month; imports fell 51.6%. India normally exports goods worth about $6bn every month to the region, but in March it was only about $2.5bn.
