India’s trade deficit widened in March as the gap between exports and imports stood at $21.54 billion last month, trade data showed.

The gap emerged even as policymakers and exporters in the South Asian nation scrambled to shield themselves from US President Donald Trump’s global tariff war.

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As per the government data, the exports in March rose 0.7% to $41.97 billion from a year earlier, while imports grew 11.4% to $63.51 billion.

Notably, the trade deficit had narrowed to $14.05 billion in February, the lowest in more than three years.

Cumulatively, during the 2024-25 fiscal year (April-March), India’s exports moved up a tad by 0.08% to USD 437.42 billion, while imports climbed by 6.62% to USD 720.24 billion.

Speaking on the numbers, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said the last financial year was difficult, with so many things happening around the world.

“India’s overall exports in the last financial year crossed $820 billion,” he added.

“We will be waiting for the final figures of services, but our internal assessment is that it will go even above by two more billion dollars. So it should be a figure of more than $842 billion,” Barthwal said.

In light of the US tariffs, Barthwal mentioned that an Inter-Ministerial Committee for import surge monitoring has been established with the representation from the Department of Commerce, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, CBIC, and DPIIT.

“Rising US costs may prompt exporters from countries like China, Vietnam, and Indonesia—all facing trade deficits with the US—to divert goods to India, potentially triggering a surge in imports of products at risk of being dumped in India,” he said.