India’s Exports Jump 7.3% in July 2025 While Trade Deficit Widens; Imports Also Rise

Breaking its two-month declining run, India’s exports recorded a solid growth of 7.29%, reaching $37.24 billion in July 2025, even as the country’s trade deficit climbed to an eight-month high of $27.35 billion. According to official data released on Thursday, imports surged by 8.6% year-on-year to $64.59 billion in July. The latest trade deficit figure is the highest since November 2024, when it had reached $31.77 billion.

During the period April-July 2025-26, the nation saw its exports grow 3.07% to $149.2 billion, whereas imports increased 5.36% to $244.01 billion. This resulted in a cumulative trade deficit of $94.81 billion for the first four months of the current fiscal year.

INDIA EXPORT GROWTH REFLECTS STRONG RECOVERY IN JULY 2025

Briefing the media on the trade performance, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal emphasized that despite global economic headwinds, India’s goods and services exports are performing well. He further underlined that India’s export performance has outpaced the growth in global exports.

Among the top sectors driving the export resurgence were engineering, electronics, gems and jewellery, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals.

INDIA EXPORT GROWTH SUPPORTED BY RATING UPGRADE AND INFRASTRUCTURE PUSH

Meanwhile, ratings agency S&P Global announced an upgrade of India’s sovereign credit rating to ‘BBB’ from the previous ‘BBB-’ on Thursday, August 14, while maintaining the stable outlook. The upgraded rating has come just ahead of India’s 79th Independence Day.

The short-term sovereign rating was also raised to ‘A-2’ from ‘A-3’, and the transfer and convertibility assessment was improved to ‘A-’ from ‘BBB+’.

According to S&P, “India is prioritising fiscal consolidation and showing a strong political intent to achieve sustainable public finances, while continuing with a focused infrastructure development program.” The agency also added that the stable outlook demonstrates its belief that sustained policy momentum and high infrastructure spending will support India’s long-term economic prospects. Furthermore, the agency noted that cautious fiscal and monetary policies aimed at lowering the government’s elevated debt and interest obligations will further strengthen the rating over the next 24 months.

In May 2024, S&P had changed its outlook on the Indian economy from stable to positive, suggesting that a future upgrade could be possible if the fiscal deficit narrows enough for the net change in general government debt to fall below 7% of GDP on a structural basis.