Crude oil, electronics and gems and jewellery top three imports adding to trade deficit

Petroleum, electronics and gems and jewellery continue to remain the three top import items that are widening India’ merchandise trade deficit with imports outpacing exports during April to June 2026.
 
Data from the commerce ministry revealed that the trade deficit from petroleum, electronics, and gems and jewellery stood at 65.9 billion in the first quarter of the fiscal as compared to an overall trade deficit of $37.42 billion in the same period.

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In June itself, petroleum and crude oil imports surged 23% year on year to $19.32 billion, while imports on electronic goods rose by 43.76% to $13.36 billion and imports of gold increased by 47.1% to $1.96 billion. However, silver imports fell sharply by 42.7% to 0.06 billion, official data released on Monday revealed.
 
Commerce ministry officials noted that there was a $20 billion net addition to the trade deficit in June from imports of petroleum, electronics and gems and jewellery.
 
Briefing reporters, commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal said that the surge in imports is largely driven by higher global prices of crude oil and precious metals and the increase does not mean a rise in import volumes.
 
He attributed the surge in electronics imports to “a rising middle class and disposable incomes and demand in the country”.
 
Meanwhile, India’s overall goods trade deficit also widened to $30.43 billion in June. While merchandise exports surged 15.52% year on year to $ 40.41 billion in June 2026, merchandise imports rose at an even faster pace of 31% year on year to $ 70.84 billion last month.
 
However, the trade deficit widened sharply from May 2026 when it was at $28.21 billion as merchandise exports fell from $ 45.2 billion in the month.
 
A silver lining is that India’s exports to the Middle East began to recover in June and grew 7.29% year on year to $5 billion. “The challenges in March, April and May have evened out,” Agarwal noted.