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Foreign Trade in Figures

India used to be a protectionist state for a long time, but the country has become progressively more open to international trade. Currently, trade represents 49% of its GDP (World Bank). The country mainly exports petroleum oils (20.9%), diamonds (5.3%), medicaments (3.9%), articles of jewellery (2.7%), telephone (2.4%), and rice (2.4%), while it imports petroleum oils (23.7%), coal and similar solid fuels (6.7%), gold (5%), petroleum gas and other gaseous hydrocarbons (4.4%), and diamonds (3.7%- data Comtrade 2022).

India’s main export partners are the United States (17.7%), the United Arab Emirates (6.9%), the Netherlands (4.1%), China (3.3%), and Bangladesh (3.1%), whereas imports come chiefly from China (14.0%), the United Arab Emirates (7.4%), the United States (7.1%), Saudi Arabia (6.3%), and Russia (5.5% - data Comtrade 2022). The country has recently signed free trade agreements with South Korea and ASEAN and has entered into negotiations with several partners (EU, MERCOSUR, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa). In 2021, Brazil and India signalled their interest in expanding the FTA that India has with MERCOSUR, but the expansion is still under negotiation, pending approval from other members of the South American bloc. India is currently the world’s fastest-growing large economy, as well as the world's eighteenth-largest exporter and ninth-largest importer of goods (WTO). However, the trade regime and regulatory environment still remain relatively restrictive.

The country's trade balance is structurally negative, given that the country imports nearly 80% of its energy needs. However, as India benefits from the fluctuations in world hydrocarbon prices for its imports, the trade deficit has been oscillating for the past few years. In 2022, India exported USD 453.4 billion worth of goods, while imports accounted for USD 720.4 billion (+14.6% and +25.7% y-o-y, respectively). According to WTO figures, in the same year, exports of services amounted to USD 309.3 billion (+28.6% y-o-y), whereas the imports of services stood at USD 249.5 billion (+27.3% y-o-y). The overall trade deficit for 2022 was estimated at 3.7% of GDP by the World Bank. According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, during April-October 2023, the overall trade deficit declined by 35.86% dropping from USD 89.86 billion in 2022 to USD 57.64 billion. Additionally, the merchandise trade deficit showed improvement, decreasing from USD 167.14 billion in April-October 2022 to USD 147.07 billion in April-October 2023.