India's trade deficit rises to $27.35 billion in July from $18.78 billion in June
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
India's merchandise trade deficit widened to $27.35 billion in July, up sharply from $18.78 billion in June, provisional commerce ministry data showed on Thursday.Inbound shipments rose 8.6% year-on-year to $64.59 billion, while outbound shipments stood at $37.24 billion, up 7.3%. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the deficit to reach $20.35 billion.The widening gap comes as Indian exporters face renewed pressure from the United States, with President Donald Trump's proposed 25% additional tariff on Indian goods scheduled for August 27, unless a deal is reached during the ongoing 21-day negotiation window.By comparison, India's trade deficit had narrowed to $18.78 billion in June from $21.88 billion in May, with exports roughly flat at $35.14 billion and imports down 3.7% from the previous year.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
11 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Kerala: Two weeks into fishing season, jubilation and hope prevail in sector
KOCHI: Two weeks after trawl boats returned to the sea after the fishing ban, hope and jubilation prevail in the fishing sector. Fishing boat operators say they are getting better catch than previous year and the prices too are satisfactory. While a few operators did complain of loss losing fishing gear to the floating debris of the sunken vessel, concerns about a possible environmental damage caused by the hazardous cargo it was carrying seem to have diminished. The mechanised boat operators are getting good catch of marine shrimp (karikkadi), flower tail shrimp (poovalan), white shrimp (naran), king shrimp (kazhanthan), cuttlefish, squid, threadfin bream and lizard fish, while traditional fishermen are catching oil sardine and mackerel. Last year, fishermen had complained of reduced size of major species, which researchers said was an impact of climate change. However, the fishers now say they are getting sufficient quantity of mature fish and the size is also normal. Meanwhile, though the penalty tariff imposed by the US on Indian seafood has not impacted the fishing sector, boat operators are concerned about the adverse effect it may have if the leaders in charge fail to address it.'Around one-third of the shrimp exported from India goes to the US market and we get better prices too.
India.com
11 minutes ago
- India.com
S&P Global Upgrades Credit Ratings On 10 Indian Financial Institutions
New Delhi: In yet another significant development, the S&P Global Ratings has upgraded long-term issuer credit ratings on seven Indian banks and three non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). The banks are State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank and the NBFCs are Bajaj Finance, Tata Capital and L&T Finance. The ratings of the 10 financial institutions have been upgraded from 'BBB-/Positive/A-3' to 'BBB/Stable/A-2'. The action comes after the global ratings agency raised sovereign credit rating on India. This marks the country's first sovereign upgrade by S&P in 18 years, the previous one being in 2007 when India was elevated to investment grade at BBB-. In May 2024, the agency revised its outlook on India from 'Stable' to 'Positive'. India's financial institutions will continue to benefit from the country's strong economic growth momentum, according to S&P Global. It expects India's banks to maintain adequate asset quality, good profitability, and enhanced capitalisation over the next 12-24 months. This is despite some pockets of stress. Along with raising the long-term issuer credit ratings of the 10 aforementioned financial institutions, S&P Global Ratings also revised upward its assessment of the stand-alone credit profiles (SACP) of seven of these entities – SBI, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank, Tata Capital and L&T Finance. The ratings on many Indian financial institutions are capped by our sovereign rating on India. This is due to the direct and indirect influence that the sovereign has on financial institutions operating in the country, S&P said. On Thursday, S&P Global Ratings had also raised credit ratings on Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC), Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd., NTPC Ltd., and Tata Power Co. Ltd. to 'BBB' from 'BBB-' with outlooks as stable.
Hans India
11 minutes ago
- Hans India
US may not impose additional 25 pc tariffs on India over Russian oil, hints Trump
New Delhi: The Donald Trump administration may not impose secondary tariffs on India over purchasing Russian energy, as the US President said that Russia has already lost a key oil client. Speaking to Fox News aboard Air Force One en route to Alaska, Trump said the US may not impose secondary tariffs on countries continuing to buying Russian crude oil. "Well, he (Vladimir Putin) lost an oil client, so to speak, which is India, which was doing about 40 per cent of the oil. China, as you know, is doing a lot…,' said Trump. 'And if I did what's called a secondary sanction, or a secondary tariff, it would be very devastating from their standpoint. If I have to do it, I'll do it. Maybe I won't have to do it,' he added. The secondary 25 per cent tariffs on India are likely to come into effect from August 27. Earlier this week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said if 'things don't go well' between Trump and Putin at the Alaska summit, then secondary sanctions on India for purchasing Russian oil could go higher. Meanwhile, the government has already said the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. 'Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,' it said. The fact is that India has sharply increased its purchases of oil and gas from America. This, in turn, has led to a reduction in India's trade surplus with the US, which is a major aim of the Trump administration's trade policy. Official figures show that India's oil and gas imports from the US have jumped by as much as 51 per cent from January to June this year. The country's liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from the US nearly doubled to $2.46 billion in the financial year 2024-25 from $1.41 billion in 2023-24. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured in February that India would increase energy imports from the US to $25 billion in 2025 from $15 billion in 2024 to help reduce the trade deficit of the US. This was followed by Government-owned Indian oil and gas companies entering into discussions for more long-term energy purchases from the US companies. New Delhi has also made it clear that it was diversifying its sources of energy imports to reduce dependence on Russian oil. New Delhi has also made it clear that India and the US share a very important strategic relationship that goes beyond trade.
