New Delhi: India's trade deficit widened to $31.15 billion in September, the highest in over a year, due to a significant surge in imports, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday (October 15).

While exports grew 6.74% to $36.38 billion, imports jumped 16.6% to $68.53 billion against $58.74 in the same month last year, largely due to increased imports of gold, fertilizers, and silver, PTI reported.

Commerce secretary, Rajesh Agrawal, attributed the growth in shipments to the domestic industry's resilience. When asked about the impact of the 50% tariff imposed by the US on Indian goods, he said the ministry is analysing commodity-wise data to assess the effect. Also, 45% of India's exports to the US are outside the ambit of these tariffs, he mentioned.

As per a report published in Reuters, the data released by the ministry shows that goods exports to the US fell to $5.43 billion from $6.87 billion in August since tariffs have hit shipments of goods such as textiles, shrimp, and gems and jewellery.

In the first half of the fiscal year, exports increased 3.02% to $220.12 billion, while imports rose 4.53% to $375.11 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $154.99 billion. Certain sectors, such as engineering, electronics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, gems, and jewelry, and rice, recorded healthy growth. However, petroleum product shipments declined to $30.63 billion from $35.65 billion in April-September 2024-25, the PTI report mentioned.

Notably, gold imports surged to $9.6 billion in September from $5.14 billion last year, although they dipped to $26.51 billion in the first half of the fiscal year from $29.04 billion in the same period last year.

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