India’s goods exports grow 23.04% to touch $44.4 billion in September
The country’s merchandise exports surged 23.04% in September to $44.4 billion, while the overall trade deficit narrowed year-on-year despite rising imports and global trade uncertainties.
India’s goods exports registered a 23.04% growth to touch $44.4 billion in September as compared to $36.08 billion in the corresponding month last year, monthly trade data released by the Union commerce ministry shows. With the growth in services exports for the month estimated to remain muted at $36.35 billion, overall exports of merchandise and services combined is estimated to have grown 10.99%, irrespective of the global headwinds in the form of supply chain disruptions caused by geopolitical conflicts and tariff uncertainties in key export markets.
Imports also rose, but overall trade deficit improved from $14.17 billion in September 2025 to $13.3 billion last month, the data shows. Merchandise imports for the month was worth $74.61 billion, higher than $69.08 billion, while services imports is expected to touch $19.44 billion in September 2026 as against $17.84 billion during the corresponding month last year. The services data is released by the Reserve Bank of India with a one-month delay; hence the data for September is an estimate.
India’s cumulative exports for the first six months of 2026-27 are also going strong. According to ministry data, India’s overall exports grew 13.84% to $476.2 billion during the April-September period as against $418.31 billion during the corresponding period in 2025. Imports grew faster at 15.68% from $476.42 billion during the first half of 2025-26 to $551.13 billion in April-September 2026. Merchandise exports led with 18.51% growth while service exports during the period is estimated to grow by 8.69%.
The ministry data also shows that India’s merchandise export excluding petroleum products registered a growth of 15.56% during the six-month period, higher than the growth of non-petroleum merchandise imports, which rose by 13.95% during the same period. In value terms, non-petroleum exports touched $218.7 billion during April-September period, while imports were worth $323.7 billion. The exports in the first two quarters of 2026-27 were the highest ever in value terms, Rajesh Agrawal Commerce Secretary of India, said.
The US, the UAE, China, Singapore, the Netherlands, the UK, and Germany were among the top export destinations for India in April-September 2026. The top import sources were China, Russia, the US, the UAE and South Korea during this period.