Indian merchandise exports grows in June, several labour intensive sectors falter

Increase in the export of finished goods and value added products with some imported raw material content or component helped India register a 15.54% increase in merchandise exports to touch $ 40.41 billion in June 2026. The value of overall goods exports in the same month the previous year was $ 34.98 billion.

According to the monthly trade data released by the Commerce Ministry, India’s electronics exports rose 18.9% to $ 15.2 billion, engineering goods 20.7% to $ 11.5 billion, chemicals 19.4% to $ 2.8 billion and petroleum products 9.2% to $4.9 billion in June, indicating how export growth was concentrated in sectors that rely heavily on imported raw materials, components and machinery. There was a simultaneous rise in imports of electronics, machinery, chemicals and crude oil also during the month.

Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA Ltd said the uptick in imports in June 2026 was also due to select items such as oil, electronics, fertilisers and chemicals witnessing a sizeable year-on-year (YoY) expansion in the month, albeit partly on account of a low base. “While exports also rose by a healthy 15.5% YoY in June 2026, this sharply trailed the expansion seen in imports during the month”, she pointed out.

On the other hand, sectors that are less import dependent, like readymade garments and textiles, jute manufacturing including floor covering, carpets, leather and leather products, tea, fruits and vegetables, cashew, spices etc all saw a decline in exports during June.

Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) pointed out that while Indian textiles exports registered a growth of 9.64% over the previous year in June, the de-growth was contributed by apparel exports, which declined 11.25% in June as compared to the same period the previous year. “Cumulative exports of textiles and apparel during June 2026 have registered a growth of 0.21% over June 2025”, the association said.

Delhi based think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) also highlighted that labour-intensive export sectors performed badly during June. “Readymade garment exports fell 11.3%, leather products and ceramics each declined 6.9%, tea dropped 19.2% and coffee fell 7.1%. The figures point to continued weakness in traditional job-creating industries despite the overall rise in exports”, Ajay Srivastava, founder, GTRI said.

Commenting on India’s monthly exim trade figures, ICRA’s Nayar said the country’s merchandise trade deficit widened by over 50% YoY to $30.4 billion in June 2026 from $19.1 billion in June 2025, as elevated commodity prices pushed up the import bill by 31% in the month.

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