India’s goods exports jump 26% in August, the fastest rise in a decade

India’s merchandise exports rose 26.12 percent in August from a year earlier to $43.81 billion, the strongest monthly pace in ten years, provisional figures from the Department of Commerce showed on Tuesday. Imports increased 14 percent to $70.67 billion. The goods trade deficit shrank to $26.86 billion from $27.22 billion in August 2025 and from $31.98 billion in July.

Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal told reporters the month was the first in which export growth beat import growth both as a percentage and in raw dollars. Exports rose by $9.07 billion. Imports rose by $8.71 billion. “Export momentum has continued and is building up,” he said. He added that shipments increased to the United States and the European Union and also to BRICS markets, including China.

A year ago, in August 2025, goods exports were $34.74 billion and imports $61.96 billion. Non-petroleum, non-gems-and-jewellery exports in August 2026 were $34.68 billion, against $28.26 billion a year earlier. Engineering goods, petroleum products, chemicals and textiles did most of the lifting. Cotton yarn, fabrics, made-ups and handloom products rose 13.79 percent to $1.12 billion.

Services, still estimated from older Reserve Bank data, pushed the broader picture further. Combined goods and services exports for August are put at $82.68 billion, up 25.41 percent. Combined imports are put at $92.09 billion. The overall deficit is estimated at $9.41 billion, down from $11.62 billion in August 2025.

For April to August of the current financial year, goods exports reached $215.91 billion, up 17.85 percent from $183.21 billion. Goods imports were $363 billion, also up about 18 percent. The five-month merchandise deficit is $147.09 billion, against $123.88 billion a year earlier. Combined trade over those five months shows exports of $399.27 billion and imports of $459.65 billion, for a deficit of $60.38 billion.

The destination list for April–August is familiar. The United States took $42.79 billion of Indian goods. The United Arab Emirates took $13.59 billion. China took $9.61 billion. Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, South Africa, Bangladesh and Malaysia filled out the next ranks, from $9.50 billion down to $4.36 billion.

The political reading in New Delhi is that export growth finally outran import growth in a single month, a claim Agrawal was careful to mark as a first. The caution sits in the five-month totals. The year-to-date goods deficit is still wider than last year because imports rose as fast as exports over the whole stretch. One strong August does not rewrite April and May.

Oil prices complicate the next print. Brent was near $107.55 a barrel on the day the figures went out, with West Texas Intermediate near $103.27. A high crude bill can erase an engineering-goods gain in a single month. Petroleum product exports, which helped August, move with the same price.

What the data do settle is the pace. A 26 percent jump from a $34.74 billion base is not a rounding error. Factories that sell engineering goods, refined fuels, chemicals and cloth found foreign buyers in August at a rate they have not matched in a decade of monthly releases. Whether September repeats that is the question Agrawal left on the table when he said momentum was still building.