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How big is India's merchandise trade deficit?

US$ −333.2 bn
2025-26▼ 49.8 vs 2024-25

RBI / DGCI&S · released 31 Jul 2026

How big is India's merchandise trade deficit?
PeriodValue (US$ bn)
2025-26−333.2
2024-25−283.4
2023-24−236.9
2022-23−264.9
2021-22−191.0
2020-21−102.6
2019-20−161.4
2018-19−184.0
2017-18−161.3
2016-17−109.3
2015-16−118.7
2014-15−137.7
2013-14−135.8
2012-13−190.3
2011-12−183.4

Use in your answer

India's merchandise trade balance was −US$ 333.2 bn in 2025-26, compared with −US$ 283.4 bn in 2024-25; a negative figure is a deficit. Source: RBI, Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy 2025-26, Table 111: India's Foreign Trade - US Dollar (DGCI&S data).

Cite as: Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy 2025-26, Table 111: India's Foreign Trade - US Dollar (DGCI&S)

What this shows

  • The merchandise trade deficit widened to US$ 333.2 billion in 2025-26 (provisional), the largest in the series, from US$ 283.4 billion in 2024-25.
  • The non-oil deficit (US$ 213.1 billion) was larger than the oil deficit (US$ 120.1 billion) in 2025-26.
  • In the balance of payments, net services receipts of US$ 216.6 billion and net secondary income (mainly remittances) of US$ 143.6 billion held the 2025-26 current account deficit to US$ 25.2 billion.

Cite this

Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy 2025-26, Table 111: India's Foreign Trade - US Dollar (DGCI&S)

Cite a fixed version from every published version below.

Source and method

Source
RBI, Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy 2025-26, Table 111: India's Foreign Trade - US Dollar (DGCI&S data)
Table
HBS 2025-26 Table 111, Trade Balance, Total (col. 10), US$ million, financial year
Released
31 Jul 2026
Retrieved
18 Oct 2026
Next due
Jul 2027
Processing
US$ million divided by 1,000 to give US$ billion.
Licence
RBI website terms of use
What exactly is measured

Merchandise exports minus merchandise imports in each financial year, in US dollars, as published by the RBI from DGCI&S customs data (the table's own Trade Balance column). A negative number is a deficit. Services trade is not included. The latest year is provisional.

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History: every published version

Each time the source changes this series we archive the full series as it stood, with an archived copy of the source, and never delete an old version. Each version has a permanent page you can cite. Recorded since 18 Oct 2026: 1 version.

No figure in this series has been revised since we began recording on 18 Oct 2026.

  1. 15 periods, latest 2025-26: −US$ 333.2 bn · first snapshotArchived source502352d13f5f
Release notes (1)
  • -US$ 333.2 bn2025-26 provisional; 2024-25 revised (Handbook of Statistics 2025-26)

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