Amid global trade disruptions caused by the West Asia conflict, India reported a four-year monthly high in total estimated export value for merchandise at $43.56 billion. However, the import value of merchandise was reported even higher at $71.94 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of around $28 billion.
A major chunk of this is attributed to high import prices of crude oil and gold. Gold imports have increased by 81 per cent from April 2025 to $5.6 billion, and silver imports rose by 157 per cent to $411 million. Petroleum, crude, and products imports declined by around 10 per cent from April 2025, likely due to lower LPG imports. But high crude oil prices pushed the sector’s import bill to $18.6 billion.
However, the widening import bill is not driven solely by crude oil and precious metals. Non-petroleum, non-gems and jewellery (gold, silver and precious metals) imports have also increased in April 2026 to around $45 billion from $39 billion in April 2025. Several industry sectors, including iron and steel, chemical material and vegetable oil imports, continue to account for a significant share of the import bill.
While exports are considerably lower than imports, Coal, Coke, and Briquette imports have increased by 2.4 per cent over the past year to $2.8 billion. Electronic goods imports have also risen sharply by 38 per cent from April 2025, reaching $12.8 billion. Even vegetable oil imports contributed $1.7 billion to the import bill.
Iron and steel imports decreased by 4.7 per cent, but still accounted for $1.7 billion in the bill. Chemical Material and Product imports have slipped by 35 per cent, and stood at $1.3 billion.
This suggests that rising global prices are increasing India's import burden, even in sectors where import volumes have reduced. With the highest recorded prices in 6 months, Wholesale Price Index (WPI) trends reflect this.
Basic metals prices are up by 7 per cent, and chemical prices by 5 per cent. The trend highlights how global supply disruptions and price volatility are impacting a broader range of sectors beyond crude oil.