India's April exports jump 13.8%, trade gap widens to 3-month high

New Delhi: Driven by electronics, engineering goods and petroleum products, India's goods exports rose 13.78% on year in April to $43.56 billion, the highest monthly outbound shipments in more than four years, but the trade deficit widened to a three-month high, official data released Friday showed.

A 10% rise in imports, despite a steep decline in inbound shipments from West Asia amid the continuing geopolitical disruptions, widened the trade deficit to $28.38 billion in April from $27.1 billion a year ago. The exports growth came despite India's outbound shipments to West Asia falling by more than a quarter, officials said.

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West Asia Conflict Impact

Commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal said in spite of global geopolitical tensions, the country's exports are registering healthy growth. Exports grew at the fastest pace in five months in April.

"The growth in value can have some contribution from prices because prices of many things are going up. It is also to the credit of our industry which has been able to maintain the supply chains and look at new markets and diversify their exports," he said, adding that the exports in April are the highest in ten years in this month.

Imports were $71.94 billion in April. Trade deficit was $20.7 billion in March 2026. Outbound shipments of electronic goods rose 40.31%, petroleum products 34.66%, and engineering goods 8.76% in April.

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Agrawal said India's exports to West Asia declined 28% to $4.16 billion last month against $5.78 billion in April 2025 and there has been a "significant fall" in merchandise imports to $10.5 billion from $15.3 billion in April last year "for reasons that are well known."

The ongoing conflict in West Asia has impacted the movement of ships in international waters particularly through the Strait of Hormuz.

As per the data, gold and silver imports rose 81.69% to $5.62 billion and 157.16 % to $411 million, respectively, in April.

Agrawal said less than one tonne of gold has entered India under the tariff quota mechanism available through the India-UAE CEPA, indicating that the preferential quota route remains barely utilised.