India's trade deficit narrowed to USD 6.76 billion in April 2020 from USD 9.76 billion in the previous month and below market expectations of a USD 7.5 billion shortfall. It was the smallest trade gap since May 2016, as the coronavirus pandemic hit global demand. Exports plunged 60.28 percent to its lowest level since November 2006, mainly due to lower sales of gems & jewelry (-98.74 percent), engineering goods (-64.76 percent), electronic goods (-71.04 percent), petroleum products (66.22 percent), and organic & inorganic chemicals (41.93 percent). Imports slumped 58.65 percent to its lowest since March 2009, due to lower purchases of gold (-99.92 percent); petroleum products (-55.01 percent); coal, coke & briquettes (-43.82 percent); electronic goods (-59.06 percent); iron & steel (-47.93 percent); and organic & inorganic chemicals (-28.73 percent).

Balance of Trade in India averaged -2732.90 USD Million from 1957 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 258.90 USD Million in March of 1977 and a record low of -20210.90 USD Million in October of 2012. This page provides the latest reported value for - India Balance of Trade - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news. India Balance of Trade - data, historical chart, forecasts and calendar of releases - was last updated on May of 2020. source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India

Balance of Trade in India is expected to be -14200.00 USD Million by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Balance of Trade in India to stand at -9200.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the India Balance of Trade is projected to trend around -10300.00 USD Million in 2021 and -10200.00 USD Million in 2022, according to our econometric models.

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India Balance of Trade

Actual Previous Highest Lowest Dates Unit Frequency
-6760.00 -9760.00 258.90 -20210.90 1957 - 2020 USD Million Monthly
Current Prices, NSA


Calendar GMT Actual Previous Consensus TEForecast
2020-02-14 12:45 PM Jan $-15.17B $-11.25B $-11.58B $-11.1B
2020-03-13 12:20 PM Feb $-9.85B $-15.17B $-11.91B $-10.7B
2020-04-15 12:30 PM Mar $-9.76B $-9.85B $-7.42B $-8.4B
2020-05-15 12:30 PM Apr $-6.76B $-9.76B $-7.5B $-6.7B
2020-06-15 01:15 PM May $-6.76B
2020-07-15 02:00 PM Jun $ -14.2B
2020-08-14 01:10 PM Jul
2020-09-15 01:15 PM Aug
Go to our Calendar for more events. Or learn more about the Calendar API for direct access.


News Stream
India Posts Smallest Trade Deficit in Nearly 4 Years
India's trade deficit narrowed to USD 6.76 billion in April 2020 from USD 9.76 billion in the previous month and below market expectations of a USD 7.5 billion shortfall. It was the smallest trade gap since May 2016, as the coronavirus pandemic hit global demand. Exports plunged 60.28 percent to its lowest level since November 2006, mainly due to lower sales of gems & jewelry (-98.74 percent), engineering goods (-64.76 percent), electronic goods (-71.04 percent), petroleum products (66.22 percent), and organic & inorganic chemicals (41.93 percent). Imports slumped 58.65 percent to its lowest since March 2009, due to lower purchases of gold (-99.92 percent); petroleum products (-55.01 percent); coal, coke & briquettes (-43.82 percent); electronic goods (-59.06 percent); iron & steel (-47.93 percent); and organic & inorganic chemicals (-28.73 percent).
2020-05-15
India Trade Deficit Narrows in March
India's trade deficit narrowed to USD 9.76 billion in March 2020 from USD 11.00 billion in the same month last year, compared to market expectations of a USD 7.42 billion gap. Exports slumped by 34.57 percent to the lowest level since November 2016 as the coronavirus pandemic hurt global demand, while imports slumped 28.72 percent to the lowest since August 2016.
2020-04-15
India Trade Deficit Smaller than Forecast
India's trade deficit widened to USD 9.85 billion in February 2020 from USD 9.72 billion in the previous month, but remained below market expectations of a USD 11.91 billion gap. Exports rose 2.91 percent boosted by sales of electronic goods (37.05 percent), organic & inorganic chemicals (16.33 percent), petroleum products (10.08 percent), engineering goods (8.74 percent) and drugs & pharmaceuticals (8.33 percent). Meanwhile, imports increased 2.48 percent despite declines in purchases for major commodity groups: iron & steel (-26.16 percent); organic & inorganic chemicals (-14.68 percent); coal, coke & briquettes, etc. (-8.63 percent); gold (-8.53 percent); and electronic goods (-6.66 percent). Considering April to February, the trade deficit narrowed to USD 143.12 billion from USD 173.00 billion in the same period of fiscal 2018-19.
2020-03-13
India Trade Gap Rises in January
India's trade deficit widened to $15.17 billion in January of 2020 from $15.05 billion in the same month a year ago. It came well above market expectations of a $11.58 billion gap. Exports went down 1.7 percent year-on-year to $25.97 billion, the 6th straight annual fall and despite increases in sales of electronic goods (32.8 percent), drugs & pharmaceuticals (12.4 percent), petroleum products (2.9 percent), chemicals (2.5 percent) and cotton yard (2.2 percent). Imports edged down 0.8 percent year-on-year to $41.14 billion, the 8th straight drop, mainly due to purchases of gold (-31.5 percent, as local prices of gold neared record highs in January, which prompted buyers to curtail purchases), coal, coke and briquettes (-24.4 percent), chemicals (-12%), pearls, precious and semi-precious stones (-6.2 percent) and electronic goods (-4.7 percent). In April-December, the trade deficit narrowed sharply to $133.3 billion from $163.3 billion the same period in the previous fiscal year.
2020-02-14

India Balance of Trade
India has been recording sustained trade deficits since 1980 mainly due to the strong imports growth, particularly of mineral fuels, oils and waxes and bituminous substances and pearls, precious and semi-precious stones and jewelry. In recent years, the biggest trade deficits were recorded with China, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Indonesia. India records trade surpluses with the US, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, United Kingdom and Vietnam.