Every month India ships goods out and buys goods in, and the gap between the two — the trade deficit — is one of the clearest reads on how the economy sits against the rest of the world. Exports show demand for what India makes; imports track appetite at home, and lean heavily on crude oil and gold.
When imports run far ahead of exports, the shortfall has to be paid for in dollars — which is why the deficit feeds straight into the rupee and the country's reserves. A widening gap pressures the currency; a narrowing one eases it.
This tool tracks the goods trade month by month since 2010 — exports, imports and the deficit between them — with a 12-month view to strip out the seasonality. Zoom into any stretch and compare any two months or periods, and switch on a right-hand line that tracks the size of the economy (nominal GDP) so imports can be read against how much India has grown. Every figure is the Commerce Ministry's own (DGCIS) release.
Two views below. First, the fuller picture — goods and services together, where India’s large services surplus (IT, software, business services) nets most of the goods deficit down to the true trade balance. Then the goods trade itself, month by month in detail. (The complete external balance, the current account, adds remittances and is smaller still.)
The fuller picture — how services net down the goods gap
politypolicy.com · by Tushar Gupta
Reading it. The red line is India’s goods balance — deep in deficit. The green band is the services surplus (IT, software, business services) that fills most of that gap, leaving the blue net line: India’s true trade balance with the world. Annual figures run through FY2024-25; from April 2025 the view switches to monthly. Goods are DGCIS (customs) data; services are RBI estimates, provisional for the latest months and revised with the quarterly balance of payments. Source: Ministry of Commerce & RBI.
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politypolicy.com · by Tushar Gupta
Merchandise Trade
India’s monthly goods exports, imports and the trade gap — the clearest read on the economy against the rest of the world.
Drag Across The Chart To Zoom · Magenta Dots Mark Key Events — Hover Or Tap One To Read Why It Moved Trade
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High Frequency Indicators · India, in Numbers
This is one of a growing set of trackers.
High-frequency reads on the economy — inflation, trade, credit, payments, the rupee, power and more — each built from primary data and updated as it lands.