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India, in Infographics: Trade

India’s Trade, Month By Month: Exports Versus Imports

Thirty-Six Months Of India’s Trade, September 2023 To August 2026 — Each Month, Two Stacked Bars: Exports (Merchandise In Red, Services In Yellow) And Imports (Merchandise In Blue, Services In Green). The Figure Above Each Bar Is Its Merchandise Year-On-Year Growth; Hover For All Four Series.

August 2026 Was The Strongest Export Month In These Three Years — $82.7bn Of Goods And Services Shipped Out, Up 25% On A Year Earlier, With Merchandise Exports Jumping 26% And Services 25%. Across March–August 2026, India Exported $479bn, Up 13% Year-On-Year — Momentum That Held Through A Turbulent Run Of Tariffs And Soft Global Demand.
$82.7bn
Total Exports, Aug 2026
+25% YoY — A Three-Year High
$479bn
Exports, Mar–Aug 2026
+13% Over The Same Six Months Of 2025
$17.5bn
Services Surplus, Aug 2026
Offsets Most Of The Goods Gap
$26.9bn
Goods Trade Deficit, Aug 2026
Crude Oil, Electronics And Gold
Merch ExportsServices ExportsMerch ImportsServices ImportsOverall Trade Deficit
$0bn$25bn$50bn$75bn$100bn9/2310/2311/2312/231/242/243/244/245/246/247/248/249/2410/2411/2412/241/252/253/254/255/256/257/258/259/2510/2511/2512/251/262/263/264/265/266/267/268/26Trade Deficit, $bn ▶0102030$6bn$2bn$9bn$4bn$14bnBalanced$9bn
India’s Top 20 Merchandise Export CategoriesUS$ Billion · HS Commodity Chapters · May–July 2026
The Three Most Recently Finalised Months Of DGCI&S Customs Data, Ranked By July 2026. % Is July Year-On-Year Growth. Source: DGCI&S Monthly Export-Import Data Bank.
#CategoryMayJunJulJul YoY
1Petroleum & Mineral FuelsHS 278.324.777.21+62.0%
2Electronics & ElectricalsHS 855.665.446.33+46.6%
3Machinery & Mechanical AppliancesHS 843.333.494.05+24.4%
4Vehicles & Auto PartsHS 872.412.322.46+12.6%
5Gems, Jewellery & Precious StonesHS 712.552.422.34-2.6%
6PharmaceuticalsHS 302.082.232.14-0.8%
7Organic ChemicalsHS 291.921.961.94+17.0%
8Iron & SteelHS 720.971.111.27+58.4%
9Articles Of Iron & SteelHS 730.840.860.95-5.4%
10Cereals (Rice & Wheat)HS 101.121.080.89-5.5%
11Plastics & ArticlesHS 390.860.800.80+12.0%
12Aluminium & ArticlesHS 760.800.820.77+42.2%
13Miscellaneous ChemicalsHS 380.640.670.69+2.5%
14Apparel & Clothing (Knitted)HS 610.630.580.66-9.4%
15Apparel & Clothing (Woven)HS 620.670.580.62+1.5%
16Optical, Medical & Precision InstrumentsHS 900.550.530.61+24.7%
17Meat & Edible OffalHS 020.550.500.60+49.0%
18CottonHS 520.520.530.58+19.3%
19Made-Up TextilesHS 630.500.520.57-0.7%
20Fish & SeafoodHS 030.560.580.57+2.9%

Two Stacked Bars Per Month — Exports (Merchandise + Services) And Imports (Merchandise + Services), US$ Billion, September 2023 To August 2026. Hover Any Month For All Four Series And Their Year-On-Year Growth. Merchandise: DGCI&S Customs. Services: RBI (Receipts / Payments). Latest Two Months Provisional; August 2026 Services Is A Commerce Estimate.

Merch Exports, Aug 2026
$43.8bn
Up 26% Year-On-Year — The Red Base Of Each Export Bar.
Services Exports, Aug 2026
$38.9bn
Now Nearly As Large As Goods Exports — And Growing Faster.
Merch Imports, Aug 2026
$70.7bn
The Blue Base Of Each Import Bar — India’s Largest Flow.
Services Imports, Aug 2026
$21.4bn
The Smallest Of The Four — Leaving A Wide Services Surplus.
What The Numbers Say
Two Bars, One Story. Read Left To Right, The Export Bars (Red + Yellow) Have Climbed Steadily, With Services (Yellow) Swelling Into Almost Half The Stack — India Now Sells The World Nearly As Much In Software, Business And Travel Services As In Goods. The Import Bars (Blue + Green) Stay Taller, Held Up By A Large Merchandise Bill (Crude Oil, Electronics, Gold). The Gap Between The Two Bars Each Month Is India’s Overall Trade Deficit — Wide On Goods, Cushioned By The Services Surplus. The YoY Figures Above The Bars Show Where The Momentum Is: Services Exports And, Lately, A Surge In Both Goods Flows.
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How This Was Built

Merchandise
DGCI&S Customs Monthly Exports And Imports, US$ Billion, As Released By The Department Of Commerce (PIB Monthly Foreign-Trade Statements). Figures Are Provisional For The Latest Two Months And Revised In Later Releases.
Services
RBI’s Monthly Data On India’s International Trade In Services (Receipts = Exports, Payments = Imports). Provisional And Revised With The Quarterly Balance Of Payments; The Monthly Values Sum To The RBI Quarterly Totals. August 2026 Services Are A Commerce Estimate, As RBI’s August Figure Was Not Yet Published.

Sources: DGCI&S / Department Of Commerce Monthly Foreign-Trade Statements (Merchandise); RBI Monthly Data On India’s International Trade In Services And Balance Of Payments (Services). Retrieved 16 September 2026.

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by Tushar Gupta · No Rhetoric, Just Data
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© 2026 PolityPolicy · by Tushar Gupta · Graphic free to share and reproduce with credit to politypolicy.com. Underlying data belongs to its original compilers.