India’s April-June quarter exports cross $200 billion, government hopeful of reaching $800 billion annual target

India’s exports crossed the USD 200 billion mark in the first quarter of 2024-25 (April-June), with the government expressing optimism about reaching its full-year target of USD 800 billion.

“We are quite optimistic and we are confident that we will cross the USD 800 billion trade mark this year,” Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Monday while releasing India’s trade data for June.

According to the data of the Ministry of Commerce, India’s total exports, goods and services combined, stood at $ 65.47 billion in June, which is 5.4 percent higher than the same month last year. Last year in the same month it was $ 62.12 billion.

Overall, merchandise exports increased from US$34.32 billion to US$35.20 billion, and services exports rose from US$27.79 billion to US$30.27 billion.

Goods and services exports combined stood at $68.29 billion in May, up 10.2 per cent year-on-year.

According to the data released today, the country’s imports have also increased year-on-year in June. The situation was the same in May as well.

Total imports, both goods and services, rose to $73.47 billion in June from $69.12 billion, an increase of about 6.3 per cent.

India recorded record exports of USD 778 billion in the recently concluded financial year 2023-24. In 2022-23, the country’s combined exports of goods and services stood at USD 776.3 billion.

Overall, service exports rose to US$ 341.1 billion from US$ 325.3 billion in 2023-24. However, merchandise exports declined marginally to US$ 437.1 billion from US$ 451.1 billion.

Various steps taken by the government included launching the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in various sectors, including electronic goods, to make Indian manufacturers globally competitive, attract investments, boost exports, integrate India into global supply chains and reduce dependence on imports. These steps appear to have paid off.

China, Russia, Iraq, UAE and Singapore are among the countries to which India’s exports grew significantly in the recently concluded fiscal year, albeit off a low base. Other countries in the top 10 list are the UK, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands and South Africa.

Total imports declined to US$ 853.8 billion from US$ 898.0 billion in 2022-23. Both goods and services exports declined during the financial year.

The overall trade deficit is set to widen from US$121.6 billion in 2022–23 to US$75.6 billion in 2023–24.