India’s exports rise marginally by 0.61% to $36.56 bn in January

New Delhi: The country’s exports rose marginally by 0.61 per cent to $36.56 billion in January, while trade deficit widened to a three-month high of $34.68 billion, government data showed on Monday.

Imports rose 19.2 per cent - the highest so far this fiscal - to a three-month high of $71.24 billion in January, driven by a sharp rise in inbound shipments of gold and silver due to higher prices.

Gold imports surged 349.22 per cent to $12 billion during the month under review, while silver imports jumped by 127 per cent to $2 billion.

India mainly imports the yellow metal from Switzerland, from where the inbound shipments have climbed 836.85 per cent to $3.95 billion in January.

Oil imports, however, dipped 0.24 per cent to $13.4 billion in January.

Cumulatively during April-January 2025-26 fiscal, the country’s exports rose by 2.22 per cent to $366.63 billion.

Imports grew 7.21 per cent to $649.86 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $283.23 billion during the nine-month period of 2025-26. The trade deficit (the gap between imports and exports) was $247.38 billion in April-January 2024-25.

Briefing media on the data, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said the country’s exports “remain northwards” both in goods and services.

He expressed hope that, going by the trend, exports of goods and services are likely to cross $860 billion in 2025-26. It was $825 billion in 2024-25.

“In services, we will be crossing beyond $410 billion for the first time in this current year,” Agrawal said.

During April-January this fiscal, the total exports are estimated at $720.76 billion as against $679.02 billion recorded in the same period of the previous fiscal.

At the exports front, key sectors such as petroleum, engineering, electronics, iron ore, marine and coffee have recorded positive growth in January.

However, shipments of tea, rice, spices, leather and leather products, gems and jewellery, chemicals, ready-made garments of all textiles, and plastics have recorded negative growth.

As per the commerce ministry data, services exports for January this year are estimated at $43.90 billion as compared to $34.75 billion in January 2025.

The estimated value of services imports for January 2026 is $19.60 billion as compared to $16.71 billion in the same month last year.

Meanwhile, India’s merchandise exports to the US contracted 21.77 per cent to $6.6 billion in January due to high tariffs imposed by America, according to the Commerce Ministry data.

Imports, on the other hand, from the US grew 23.71 per cent to $4.5 billion in January, data showed.

During the April-January period of this fiscal year, the country’s exports to the US increased 5.85 per cent to $72.46 billion, while imports rose 13.87 per cent to $43.92 billion.

The country’s exports to China grew by 55.65 per cent to $1.63 billion, while imports rose 16.67 per cent to $12.23 billion.

During the April-January period of this fiscal year, the country’s exports to China increased 38.37 per cent to $15.88 billion, while imports rose 13.82 per cent to

$108.18 billion.