Lok Sabha Question No. 2758 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-16
Subject: Increasing Trade Deficit
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Shri Brijendra Singh Ola

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2758 ANSWERED ON 16/12/2025

## INCREASING TRADE DEFICIT

## 2758.   SHRI BRIJENDRA SINGH OLA:

Will  the  Minister  of COMMERCE  &  INDUSTRY (वाणिज्य  एवं  उद्योग  मंत्री) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether trade deficit of India has increased recently;
- (b) if  so,  the  main  reasons therefor particularly as services exports registered a decline of 5.5% during September 2025 along with the details thereof; and
- (c) the volume of import and export with China during the last five years including the current year along with the year-wise and percentage comparisons for the last five years, including the current year?

## ANSWER

## वाणिज्य और उद्योग मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री (श्री णिणिन प्रसाद) THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

- (a) India's export performance continues to reflect resilience amid persistent global uncertainty,  geopolitical  volatility,  and  uneven  demand  across  major  markets. Electronic  goods,  Agriculture-related  categories  such  as  other  cereals,  meat, dairy  &  poultry  products,  tea,  marine  products,  coffee,  rice,  and  fruits  & vegetables are some of the sectors delivering strong expansions. Merchandise imports growth has been driven significantly by higher inbound shipments of gold and  silver.  Gold  imports  increase  is  led  by  significant  increase  in  unit  price. Significant increase in Silver import is attributed to increase in international price of silver and also due to increased industrial demand in sectors like Solar Panels, Electronics, Electric Vehicles and Pharma. These factors collectively led to an increase in trade deficit.

India's  trade  deficit  remains  comfortably  manageable  when  viewed  against  the country's substantial foreign exchange reserves. Moreover, India is currently the fastest growing among major economies and that growth pattern naturally affects its trade dynamics. India's rapid economic growth is pushing up import demand as faster growth increases the need for machinery, electronics, industrial inputs and energy. As  a  result,  strong  domestic  demand,  investment-led  expansion,  and heavy energy dependence combine to make higher growth translate into higher

imports, for sustaining manufacturing expansion and India's integration into global value chains.

- (b) As per the latest available data by RBI, services exports have shown a positive growth  of  12.5%  during  September  2025  over  September  2024,  and  not  a decline  as  stated. It  is  further  to  be  noted  that  the  Quarterly  Balance  of Payments  (BoP)  statistics released by RBI  come  with a time lag of approximately three months and the figures are subject to revision once the quarterly data is released.
- (c) It  may be noted that volume-based aggregated trade data with China is not available.  DGCI&S  provides  value-based  aggregated  data  and  volume  at HS/PC  levels  as  available  with  different  units.  Since  the  commodities  are measured in different units, aggregate volume data cannot be provided. Hence, the  information  sought  in  terms  of  'volume'  of  imports  and  exports  is  not available in the form requested.

In terms of value, India's trade with China is as given below:

## India's trade with China in last 5 years (US$ billion) in value terms:

| Year         |   Merchandise Exports |   Growth % |   Merchandise Imports |   Growth % |
|--------------|-----------------------|------------|-----------------------|------------|
| 2020-21      |                 21.19 |      27.53 |                 65.21 |      -0.07 |
| 2021-22      |                 21.26 |       0.36 |                 94.57 |      45.02 |
| 2022-23      |                 15.33 |     -27.9  |                 98.51 |       4.16 |
| 2023-24      |                 16.67 |       8.7  |                101.74 |       3.28 |
| 2024-25      |                 14.25 |     -14.49 |                113.45 |      11.51 |
| Apr-Oct 2025 |                 10.02 |      24.58 |                 73.99 |      11.89 |

Source: DGCI&S

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