Goods Exports at Record High $45.20 Bn in May
Petroleum exports were up 54.89 per cent to $8.421billion against $5.436 billion.
Chennai: India's merchandise exports registered a record high $45.20 billion in May, driven by strong petroleum and engineering goods exports and some recovery in shipments to West Asia. Merchandise imports also surged to a seven-month high of $73.40 billion in May, primarily due to higher crude oil imports.
Merchandise exports during May were up 18 per cent to $45.20 billion compared to $38.30 billion in May 2025. Merchandise imports were 20 per cent up to a seven month-high of $73.41 billion as compared to $60.86 billion in May 2025.
Petroleum exports were up 54.89 per cent to $8.421billion against $5.436 billion. Crude and petroleum products imports were up 53.8 per cent in May to $22.677 billion against $14.745 billion in the same month last year.
Engineering goods exports $12.311 billion, up 24.48 per cent from $9.890 billion, electronics goods exports were up 11.6 per cent to $5.097 billion and electronics goods imports were up 35 per cent to $ 12.315 billion.
Gold imports were up 34 per cent to $3.416 billion. However, silver imports were down by 86 per cent to $75 million. Vegetable oil and pulses imports too were up in May.
Exports to Singapore were up 68.9 per cent and China 24.80 per cent. The exports to the US were almost flat, while that to the UAE was 3 per cent up. Exports to countries like Tanzania, Sri Lanka and South Africa registered strong growth.
Imports from China were up 23.4 per cent, Russia by 63 per cent on crude imports, while that from the US was up 54 per cent to $5.8 billion.
"India’s merchandise trade deficit widened sharply to $28.2 billion in May 2026 from $22.5 billion in the year ago month, largely on account of a higher net oil import bill Gold imports also rose sharply by 34 per cent driven by higher prices, as the imposition of the customs duty hike in mid-May 2026 likely weighed on volumes. The easing of tensions in West Asia, and the consequent cooling in energy and commodity prices is expected to bring some relief to the merchandise trade deficit prints. We now expect the CAD to be relatively benign in FY2027 as opposed to our earlier estimate of 1.7 per cent of GDP,” said Rahul Agrawal, Principal Economist, ICRA.
The estimated value of services export for May was $36.76 billion compared to $32.46 billion in May 2025 and imports was $19.06 billion as compared to $16.70 billion in May 2025.
