Services lead Indian exports growth in 2024-25, touched all time high of $824.9 billion

India’s total exports have touched an all-time high of $824.9 billion in the financial year 2024–25, as per the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on services trade for March 2025.

This marks a growth of 6.01% over the previous year’s export figure of $778.1 billion, setting a new milestone in the country’s trade trajectory, Commerce Ministry said in a statement.

According to RBI data, services exports continued to drive the growth momentum, reaching a historic high of $387.5 billion in 2024–25, up 13.6% from $341.1 billion in the previous year. For March 2025, services exports stood at $ 35.6 billion, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 18.6% compared to $30 billion in March 2024.

The merchandise exports data for 2024-25, released by the Commerce Ministry last month had shown that cumulative value of merchandise exports during FY 2024-25 (April-March) was $437.42 billion, registering a positive growth of 0.08%, as compared to $437.07 billion during FY 2023-24 (April-March). The merchandise exports excluding petroleum products rose to a record $374.1 billion, registering a 6% increase from $ 352.9 billion in 2023–24 — the highest ever annual non-petroleum merchandise exports.

Major drivers of merchandise exports growth in FY 2024-25 (April-March) were coffee, tobacco, electronic goods, rice, jute manufacturing, including floor covering, meat, dairy & poultry products, tea, carpet, plastic & linoleum, RMG of all textiles, drugs & pharmaceuticals, cereal preparations & miscellaneous processed items, mica, coal & other ores, minerals including processed minerals, engineering goods and fruits & vegetables.

The Commerce Ministry had estimated India’s total exports during FY 2024-25 to be $820.93 billion, a growth of 5.5%, last month. The data released by RBI indicate that the ministry assessment has been a tad lower than the actual growth.