As Trump tariff bites, India's exports to US slide for fourth consecutive month

The value of shipments to the United States from India continues to slide, ever since the US imposed additional tariffs on goods originating from India. The monthly trade data for September shows that the overall exports declined 20% to touch $5.5 billion in September, from $6.87 billion in August. This has been the fourth month of consecutive decline, says an analysis carried out by Delhi-based think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI).

September was the first full month in which Indian goods faced Washington’s 50% tariff on most products. “The decline began after May 2025, when exports rose 4.8% to $8.8 billion, marking the last month of growth before the duties took hold. Exports then fell 5.7% in June to $8.3 billion, 3.6% in July to $8.0 billion, and a steep 16.3% in August to $6.7 billion, before collapsing again in September,” Ajay Srivastava, founder GTRI, points out.

According to his analysis, between May and September, India’s exports to the U.S. have dropped by almost 37.5%, wiping out more than $3.3 billion in monthly shipment value. He also says that the data confirms that the United States has become India’s most severely affected market since the tariff escalation began, with sectors such as textiles, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, and chemicals suffering the heaviest losses.

Meanwhile, in a quick analysis of the export trends in the textiles and apparel sector in September, the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has said that during September 2025, Indian Textiles exports registered a de-growth of 10.45% over the previous year, while apparel exports registered a de-growth of 10.14% during the same time period. Cumulative exports of textiles and apparel during the month came down by 10.34% over the same month the previous year.

Incidentally, the textile and apparel sector has just begun to see significant impact of US tariffs as April-September, the decline was just 1.85% for Indian textile exports while apparel exports is still in the positive territory with a growth of 3.42% during the same six-month period. The United States is the top exporting destination for India’s textile & apparel products accounting to about 28% of India’s global T&A exports.