February trade deficit at 3.5-year low, exports continue fall

Subdued Global Demand

The ministry has also estimated a $4.43 billion trade surplus in goods and services in February, the first surplus after the Covid-19 pandemic.

In February, India’s gold imports slipped to $2.3 billion from the past month’s $2.68 billion.

Meanwhile, crude oil imports dropped to $11.8 billion from $13.4 billion in January, data showed. Sequentially, goods exports were up 1.31% from January 2025.


“This was a difficult year for us for trade. We are positively moving in the direction of above $800 billion exports,” said commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal, adding that services exports are growing above 14%.

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Electronics, rice, marine, readymade garments and coffee exports grew in February while gems and jewellery were impacted by sanctions (imposed on Russian diamonds by G7 countries), he said

Seventeen out of the 30 key export areas witnessed a decline in outbound shipments.

“The dip is primarily due to subdued global demand and ongoing challenges faced by key export sectors including the impact of the global tariff war,” said Ashwani Kumar, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).

He said compression of the deficit is a promising sign of India’s trade sector beginning to rebalance.

On the fall in imports, officials said that these are quick estimates and the government is looking into the details. However, they ruled out a fall in consumption demand. Non-petroleum, non-gems and jewellery imports, a measure of the strength of domestic demand, was $35.02 billion in February as against $33.96 billion a year ago. The US, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands and the UK were the top export destinations in the April-February period of FY25 while China,