New Delhi, January 15: India's exports grew in April-December 2024 reaching an estimated USD 602.64 billion, marking a rise of 6.03 per cent compared to USD 568.36 billion during the same period in 2023, as per the data released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday.
This upward trend is attributed to a strong showing across both merchandise and services sectors.
Merchandise exports totaled USD 321.71 billion in the first nine months of FY2024, a modest 1.6 per cent increase from USD 316.65 billion in the previous year. Notably, non-petroleum exports in December 2024 saw a healthy increase of 5.05 per cent, reaching USD 33.09 billion, up from USD 31.50 billion in December 2023.
The rise in non-petroleum exports has been a key driver of the overall export growth. Non-petroleum exports from April to December 2024 totaled USD 272.70 billion, reflecting a 7.05 per cent increase from USD 254.74 billion in the same period last year.
The merchandise exports for December stood at USD 38.01 billion, compared to USD 38.39 billion (YoY), and imports at USD 59.95 billion compared to USD 57.15 billion (YoY).
The services export for December stood at USD 32.66 billion, compared to USD 38.39 billion (YoY), and imports at USD 17.50 billion compared to USD 15.63billion (YoY).
Non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports grew by 8.25 per cent, reaching USD 30.96 billion in December 2024, up from USD 28.60 billion in December 2023.
Among the major contributors to merchandise export growth in December were electronic goods, engineering goods, rice, ready-made garments (RMG) of all textiles, and cotton yarn, fabrics, and handloom products.
The data suggests that electronic goods saw an increase of 35.11 per cent, with exports rising from USD 2.65 billion in December 2023 to USD 3.58 billion in December 2024.
Engineering Goods exports grew by 8.35 per cent, from USD 10.01 billion to USD 10.84 billion in the same period.
Rice exports saw a significant surge of 64.03 per cent, climbing from USD 0.87 billion in December 2023 to USD 1.43 billion in December 2024.
Ready-made garments of all Textiles recorded a growth of 12.89 per cent, rising from USD 1.30 billion to USD 1.46 billion.
Cotton yarn/fabrics/handloom products saw an increase of 11.98 per cent, reaching USD 1.05 billion in December 2024 from USD 0.94 billion the year before.
The trade data shows that the USA, UAE, Netherlands, UK, China, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Germany, and Australia were the top ten export destinations.
On the other hand, China, Russia, UAE, USA, Iraq, Indonesia, Switzerland, Korea, and Singapore were the top destinations for import in April-December 2024.
In the previous financial year 2023-24, India registered record exports at USD 778 billion. In 2022-23, the country exported goods and services combined at USD 776.3 billion.
Services exports rose from USD 325.3 billion to USD 341.1 billion in 2023-24. Merchandise exports though marginally declined from USD 451.1 billion to USD 437.1 billion.
The trade deficit in December stood at USD 6.78, compared to USD 2.76 billion in December 2023.
Trade deficit, for April-December rose 14.11 per cent at USD 79.50 billion from the previous year's USD 69.67 billion, as per the data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry.
Overall trade deficit improved from USD 121.6 billion in 2022-23 to USD 75.6 billion in 2023-24.
