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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 36.5% of the country's GDP. The country mainly exports petroleum oils (9.5%), medicaments (6%), diamonds (5.5%), rice (2.9%), and articles of jewellery (2.8%), while it imports petroleum oils (17.5%), gold (6%), diamonds (4.3%), coal and similar solid fuels (4.3%), petroleum gas and other gaseous hydrocarbons (4.1%). According to IMF Foreign Trade Forecasts, the volume of exports of goods and services increased by 6.7% in 2021 and is expected to remain stable at 6.1% in 2022, while the volume of imports of goods and services increased by 7.5% in 2021 and is expected to increase by 8.2% in 2022.

India's main partners are the United States, China, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Hong Kong, and Singapore. 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 signaled 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 eighth largest exporter and tenth largest importer of commercial services. However, India’s trade regime and regulatory environment still remains 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 country's trade deficit has been oscillating for the past few years. In 2020, India exported USD 279 billion worth of goods, while imports accounted for USD 372 billion, resulting in a negative trade balance of USD 95 billion. According to the WTO, in the same year, exports of services amounted to USD 202 billion, whereas the imports of services stood at USD 152 billion, leading to a decrease of the overall trade deficit, which amounted to USD 8.2 billion.