Within this, merchandise exports grew 26.1% or by $9.07 billion in August 2026 to $43.8 billion. Merchandise imports grew 14% or by $8.71 billion to $70.7 billion in the same period. Image for representation
| Photo Credit: Nirmal Harindran
India’s trade deficit fell in August 2026, driven by a strong performance by merchandise exports, which grew more than 26%, outpacing the growth in imports in percentage as well as in absolute value terms, which Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said has happened for the first time.
Further, while acknowledging the positive impact on exports a depreciating rupee has, Mr. Agrawal said that the strong growth of exports has been in dollar terms as well as in rupee value, and that a large amount of India’s exports have grown strongly in volume terms as well.
India’s overall exports, including merchandise and services, grew 25.4% to $82.7 billion in August 2026. Imports, on the other hand, grew a relatively slower 18.7% to $92.1 billion. As a result, India’s total trade deficit shrank to $9.4 billion in August 2026 as compared to $11.6 billion in August last year.
Merchandise surge
Within this, merchandise exports grew 26.1% or by $9.07 billion in August 2026 to $43.8 billion. Merchandise imports grew 14% or by $8.71 billion to $70.7 billion in the same period.
“This is the first time we are seeing that in absolute value terms also that export growth is higher in value than import growth,” Mr. Agrawal said. “That is a positive sign.”
The Commerce Secretary also sought to dispel the notion that all of this export growth was a result of the depreciating rupee.
“There is always a debate about whether this is volume or value-led growth,” Mr. Agrawal said. “We looked into that as well. India’s merchandise export surge is not only a value-led growth, but also a remarkable volume growth.”
“When we looked at granular data available up to July, it shows that segment volumes have also gone up in the majority of segments, underscoring the demand and breadth of demand in the global market,” he added.
Mr. Agrawal explained that, out of 168 principal commodities that India exports, 68 principal commodities have seen both volume growth and value growth, while 39 have seen value growth but not volume growth.
Sober services
In comparison to merchandise, India’s services sector saw slightly more subdued growth in August 2026. Services exports grew 24.6% to $38.9 billion in August this year compared to last year.
Services imports, on the other hand, grew a much quicker 37.4%.
Published – September 15, 2026 06:50 pm IST
