India's Trade Deficit Widens to $6.9B as Imports Surge in December

The country's overall trade deficit widened significantly to USD 6.92 billion in December 2025, compared with USD 1.46 billion in the same month last year.

The increase in the trade gap was driven primarily by higher imports, even as exports remained broadly stable on a year-on-year basis.

The data covers combined trade in merchandise and services.

A closer look at merchandise trade shows a modest improvement in exports. Merchandise exports increased to USD 38.51 billion in December 2025 from USD 37.80 billion in December 2024, reflecting steady outbound shipments despite global economic uncertainties.

However, merchandise imports grew at a faster pace, rising to USD 63.55 billion from USD 58.43 billion a year earlier.

In the services sector, exports moderated during the month. Services exports were estimated at USD 35.50 billion in December 2025, lower than USD 36.97 billion recorded in December 2024.

Services imports, however, declined slightly to USD 17.38 billion from USD 17.80 billion in the year-ago period.

India's electronic goods sector grew by 16 plus percent; meat, dairy by 30 percent; pharmaceuticals by 5.65 per cent, and engineering goods too in positive trajectory.

Marine products grew 11 plus per cent.

The Commerce Secretary said, "We are also doing very well in China, where the growth has been very good, good growth in exports to the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Spain."

In the US, a key market, India's merchandise exports rose 9.8 per cent to USD 65.88 billion, from USD 60.03 billion during April-December 2025.

"We are still holding on to a positive trend. It was still doing around USD 7 billion despite high tariffs. We are focusing more on areas where tariffs are less, or in areas where tariffs are there, and industry has been showing resilience and holding on to the supply chains," Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said.

India's total exports had touched an all-time high of USD 824.9 billion in financial year 2024-25. This marked a yearly growth of 6.01 per cent over USD 778.1 billion exports in 2023-24, setting a new annual milestone.

The 2024-25 exports exceeded the initial anticipation of USD 800 billion.

In 2024-25, services exports continued to drive the growth momentum, reaching a historic high of USD 387.5 billion, up 13.6 per cent from USD 341.1 billion in the previous year. In 2024-25, merchandise exports stood at USD 437.42 billion in 2024-25, with a marginal increase.India's total trade deficit (merchandise and services) for the fiscal year 2024-25 widened to USD 94.26 billion, from USD 78.1 billion in 2023-24.

Among various steps the government took was to launch a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in varied sectors, including electronic goods, to make Indian manufacturers globally competitive, attract investments, enhance exports, integrate India into the global supply chain and reduce dependency on imports. These seemed to have reaped dividends for rising exports.

- ANI