NEW DELHI: India’s trade deficit widened to a five-month high of $30.4 billion as imports jumped 31% – the fastest pace of expansion in nearly four years – to $70.8 billion, although exports retained their momentum.Latest data released by the commerce department on Monday estimated that exports rose 15.4% to $40.4 billion, but it was overshadowed by a surge in the import of crude, fertilisers, electronics and machinery.On account of high global prices, crude shipments jumped over 40% to $19.3 billion, while fertiliser imports trebled to $2.3 billion, with volumes also likely to have played a part. There was some comfort from bullion though as gold imports rose 7% to stay just below $2 billion, while silver was down 74% to $60 million, as global prices cooled and the impact of higher duty played out. Precious stones, vegetable oil, chemicals and project goods were among the handful of prominent sectors that saw lower imports during June.
On the export front, electronics and engineering goods were the top drivers with oil products seeing some moderation. While engineering remained the top item in India’s export basket, growing 21% to $11.5 billion in June, electronics overtook petroleum products to be the second largest product category.Electronics exports grew 19% to $4.9 billion, while oil products rose 9.2% to $4.8 billion, according to official estimates. Pharma was the fourth biggest export (7% increase to $2.8 billion) item. Gems and jewellery saw a pickup, rising 35% to $2.4 billion, while chemicals grew over 19% to $2.8 billion.Commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal told reporters that barring West Asia all other regions have seen an increase in exports and even in the case of West Asia, he said recovery has started with shipments from India estimated to have increased 7.3% to $5 billion in June.In contrast, there was a 1% dip in exports to the US, which were estimated at $8.2 billion. “While the uptick in imports in June 2026 was largely broad-based, select items such as oil, electronics, fertilisers and chemicals witnessed a sizeable YoY expansion in the month, albeit partly on account of a low base… While the situation in West Asia and its impact on crude oil prices remains a monitorable, ICRA expects the current account deficit to widen to at least 1.0% of GDP in FY2027,” said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ratings agency ICRA.
