Chennai: Merchandise exports remained flat in March as well as the entire financial year 2024-25, while imports were seen rising.Merchandise exports stayed almost flat in March to $41.97 billion, while goods imports increased by 11.4 percent to $63.51 billion against the same month last year, according to provisional data released by the commerce ministry. It was also higher compared to February with $36.91 billion of exports and $50.96 billion of imports.As imports rose, India’s merchandise trade deficit in March widened to $21.54 billion from $14.05 billion in February. On a year-on-year basis, the trade gap in goods in March 2025 widened compared to $15.34 in March 2024.“The merchandise export data belied expectations of a front-loading of shipments ahead of the proposed tariffs, contributing to a higher-than-expected deficit figure. We now anticipate a current account surplus of $1-3 billion in Q4 FY2025, with a full-year deficit of around 0.9 per cent of GDP,” said Aditi Nayar, chief economist, ICRA.India’s oil imports increased to $19 billion in March from $11.8 billion in February. Monthly oil imports were the highest since May 2024, when they hit $19.95 billion. Gold imports almost doubled to $4.4 billion in March from $2.3 billion in February.For FY 2024-25, while merchandise exports were almost flat on-year at $437.42 billion, imports rose 6 per cent to $720.74 billion.Services exports rose 12 per cent to $383.51 billion, while services imports were up 9 per cent to $194.95 billion.India’s goods and services exports in the current fiscal year increased over 5 percent to $820.93 billion from a year ago, while overall inbound shipments rose nearly 7 percent to $915.19 billion.
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