India's merchandise exports jump 23.04% to USD 44.40 billion in September; trade deficit at USD 30.21 billion

This story is informational only and is not financial advice.

What the numbers say

India's merchandise exports stood at USD 44.40 billion in September 2026, up 23.04% year-on-year, according to provisional data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Thursday, 15 October 2026. A year ago, in September 2025, exports were USD 36.08 billion.

Merchandise imports rose 8.0% to USD 74.61 billion (from USD 69.08 billion), leaving the merchandise trade deficit at USD 30.21 billion. Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal presented the data at a press briefing. "If you look at merchandise exports in September, they are at USD 44.40 billion, which is 23.04 per cent higher than last September," he said, as reported by ANI.

The numbers were reported consistently by ANI (via Devdiscourse and LatestLY, 15 October 2026) and by Mint.

What drove the export surge

The Commerce Ministry data shows broad-based growth across India's key export engines:

• Electronic goods: +70.44% to USD 5.31 billion
• Engineering goods: +20.91% to USD 12.17 billion
• Petroleum products: +31.9% to roughly USD 6.2 billion
• Chemicals: +24.21% to roughly USD 3 billion
• Agricultural products: higher shipments (no figure given in the release)

Electronics, in other words, is doing the heavy lifting — nearly doubling its contribution in a single year, a trend that tracks the steady build-up of India's smartphone and component manufacturing over the past few years.

The import side of the ledger

Imports told a more mixed story. Gold imports plunged 81.27% to USD 1.8 billion and silver imports fell 49.11% to USD 665 million — a sharp contraction that helped keep the deficit in check. Offsetting that, crude oil imports rose 30.76% to USD 18.34 billion, reflecting higher energy prices and demand.

Indicator	September 2026	September 2025	Change
Merchandise exports	USD 44.40 bn	USD 36.08 bn	+23.04%
Merchandise imports	USD 74.61 bn	USD 69.08 bn	+8.0%
Merchandise trade deficit	USD 30.21 bn	USD 33.00 bn	Narrowed
Gold imports	USD 1.80 bn	—	−81.27%
Crude oil imports	USD 18.34 bn	—	+30.76%

One deficit, two readings

Here the coverage splits into two frames, and both are factually correct — worth stating side by side.

Reading 1 (year-on-year): the merchandise deficit narrowed from USD 33 billion in September 2025 to USD 30.21 billion, because exports grew far faster than imports. This is how ANI headlined it.

Reading 2 (month-on-month): the deficit widened from USD 26.86 billion in August 2026 to USD 30.21 billion in September, as the Mint (Bloomberg) coverage noted.

Neither frame contradicts the other; they just answer different questions. gagariya is recording both without picking a side.

The bigger picture: services and the half-year

Adding estimated services trade, overall exports reached USD 80.75 billion in September, up 10.99% year-on-year (from USD 72.76 billion), while overall imports stood at USD 94.05 billion, giving a combined deficit of USD 13.30 billion — slightly down from USD 14.17 billion a year ago.

The quarter was strong too: overall exports for July–September 2026 are estimated at USD 242.6 billion — the highest ever for the second quarter, according to Agrawal, with Q2 export growth at 15.84% against 11.84% in Q1.

For the first half of FY27 (April–September), per Mint's reporting: merchandise exports were USD 259.89 billion (+18.51%); merchandise imports USD 437.53 billion (+16.31%); the merchandise trade deficit USD 177.64 billion; services exports pegged at USD 216.31 billion (+8.69%); and services imports at USD 113.60 billion (+13.32%).

What to note — and what is missing

• The data is provisional, compiled by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics.
• No analyst quotes were available in the coverage reviewed — the reaction story, if any, will follow separately.
• Electronics is now firmly India's fastest-growing export category; the gold-import collapse did as much work on the deficit as the export boom did.