News Desk
In November 2025, India’s merchandise exports reached their highest level in ten years, buoyed by robust demand for electronics, engineering goods, and gems and jewellery. The Ministry of Commerce reported that this was not only a rebound from October’s slump but also the fastest growth since mid-2022.
The trade deficit narrowed sharply to $24.53 billion, down from October’s record $41.68 billion, offering relief to policymakers and markets. Imports fell nearly 2% to $62.66 billion, driven by a steep decline in gold (down ~59%), alongside softer crude oil and coal inflows.
India’s export surge in November was driven by strong sectoral performance: electronics exports jumped nearly 39%, boosted by production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes and rising global demand for smartphones and semiconductors; engineering goods climbed 23–24%, reinforcing their role as the backbone of the export basket; gems and jewellery recorded double-digit growth, despite their usual vulnerability to tariff shocks, thanks to diversification into markets beyond the US; and pharmaceuticals and chemicals added steady gains, remaining largely insulated from tariff pressures.
Despite the 50% tariffs imposed by the US in August 2025, India’s exports to America rose 22.6% year-on-year to about $7 billion, highlighting exporters’ agility in shifting toward tariff-exempt categories such as pharmaceuticals, smartphones, and petroleum products.
Exports to China surged nearly 90% to $2.2 billion, briefly making it India’s third-largest export destination in November. This diversification strategy has helped cushion the impact of tariff uncertainty and volatile commodity prices.
The rupee, however, continued to face pressure, sliding to ₹91 per dollar in December, a record low. Economists attribute this weakness not to trade fundamentals but to capital account pressures, including lower foreign inflows and global risk sentiment.
To sustain momentum, the government is preparing a ₹25,060-crore Export Promotion Mission, aimed at supporting MSMEs and labour-intensive sectors. Analysts caution that while November’s rebound is encouraging, risks remain commodity price swings, tariff uncertainty, and capital flow volatility could test the durability of this export surge.
Cumulatively, exports between April and November 2025 rose 2.62% to $292.07 billion, while imports grew 5.59% to $515.21 billion, leaving a deficit of $223.14 billion. Including services trade, overall exports touched $73.99 billion in November, a 15.5% year-on-year increase, with the overall deficit shrinking to just $6.64 billion.
Trade economists note that the rebound was volume-driven rather than price-led, suggesting that Indian exporters are successfully scaling up production and leveraging global demand rather than relying on currency depreciation.
