By Shivangi Acharya and Manoj Kumar
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s merchandise trade deficit in March at $21.54 billion was wider than expected due to a sharp rise in oil and gold imports, according to data released by the government on Tuesday.
Economists had expected a trade deficit of $16 billion, according to a Reuters poll. March’s merchandise trade deficit rose from more than a three-year low trade deficit of $14.05 billion in the previous month.
The government said March’s goods exports stood at $41.97 billion, while imports were $63.51 billion, compared with $36.91 billion of exports and $50.96 billion of imports in February.
India’s oil imports rose sharply 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 nearly doubled to $4.4 billion in March from $2.3 billion the previous month.
India’s goods and services exports in the current fiscal year rose more than 5% to $820.93 billion from a year ago, while imports climbed nearly 7% to $915.19 billion.
For the full year, goods exports were flat at $437.42 billion and goods imports were up 6% at $720.74 billion.
Services exports rose 12% to $383.51 billion, while services imports were up 9% to $194.95 billion.
India’s fiscal year starts on April 1 and ends on March 31.
(Reporting by Shivangi Acharya and Manoj Kumar; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Shreya Biswas)
