India's Overall Exports Witness 19.07% Yearly Rise

India's total exports, including merchandise and services, reached USD 73.21 billion in October, marking a 19.07 per cent year-on-year increase, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday. In October 2023, the figure stood at USD 61.48 billion. 

Exports of merchandise goods surged from USD 33.43 billion to USD 39.20 billion, while services exports grew from USD 28.05 billion to USD 34.02 billion during the same period. For the April-October period of the 2024-25 fiscal year, India's cumulative exports amounted to approximately USD 468.27 billion, reflecting a 7.28 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. The government remains optimistic about achieving its target of USD 800 billion in exports by the end of the year.

Imports also rose year-on-year in October, with the total value of merchandise and services imports increasing from USD 77.33 billion to USD 83.33 billion. As a result, India's trade deficit widened from USD 60.02 billion to USD 63.24 billion in the 2024-25 fiscal year, marking a 5.36 per cent increase.

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"It has been extremely good month for us, and not only our overall export progress has been extremely good, which we will show to you, but if you look at April to October, this has been the highest ever non petroleum exports from this country ever. So we have broken all the records. In India's trade history, you'll find that during April to October this is the highest so far," said Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal.

India's exports hit a record high of USD 778 billion in the 2023-24 financial year, surpassing the USD 776.3 billion recorded in 2022-23. Services exports increased from USD 325.3 billion to USD 341.1 billion in 2023-24, although merchandise exports saw a slight dip, from USD 451.1 billion to USD 437.1 billion. 

India's trade deficit showed significant improvement, narrowing from USD 121.6 billion in 2022-23 to USD 75.6 billion in 2023-24. The government’s efforts to boost exports, including the launch of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme across various sectors such as electronics, have been credited with supporting the country’s growing export competitiveness, attracting investments, and reducing reliance on imports.

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