The export decline resulted from a rapid hike in US tariffs, rising from 10 percent in April to 50% by late August.
According to research released on Saturday by the think tank GTRI, India’s exports to the US, its biggest overseas market, have sharply declined as a result of aggressive tariff increases.
According to the report, shipments decreased 28.5 percent from $8.83 billion to $6.31 billion between May and October of 2025.
The drop came when US taxes quickly increased, starting at 10 percent on April 2, rising to 25 percent on August 7, and reaching 50 percent by late August. As a result, Indian exports are now among the most severely taxed of any US trading partner. China, on the other hand, had to cope with tariffs of roughly 30 percent, whilst Japan only had to deal with 15 percent.
The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said that although tariff-exempt goods like pharmaceuticals, cellphones, and petroleum products made up 40.3 percent of October exports, they still decreased 25.8 percent, from $3.42 billion in May to $2.54 billion in October—a reduction of $881 million.
It further stated that only 7.6 percent of shipments in October were made up of goods subject to uniform worldwide tariffs, primarily iron, steel, aluminium, copper, and auto parts.
According to the report, exports in this category decreased by 23.8 percent from May to October, from $629 million to $480 million, or almost $149 million. Labour-intensive goods, where India alone was subject to 50 percent levies, saw the biggest reduction.
It stated that these items, which accounted for 52.1% of October exports, fell 31.2 percent, from $4.78 billion to $3.29 billion—nearly $1.5 billion wiped out in only five months. “Smartphones, India’s single biggest product line to the US, suffered a 36 per cent decline, sliding from $2.29 billion in May to $1.50 billion in October—a loss of almost $790 million,” Ajay Srivastava, founder of GTRI, stated
According to him, monthly exports dropped steadily from $2 billion in June to $1.52 billion in July, then plummeted to USD 964.8 million in August, eased to $884.6 million in September and then rebounded to $1.5 billion in October. According to him, pharmaceutical exports also decreased by 1.6 percent, from $745.6 million to $733.6 million.
In a similar vein, he said that shipments of petroleum products decreased by 15.5 percent, from $291 million in May to $246 million in October. According to the report, outbound shipments decreased in labour-intensive industries like jewellery and gems, textiles, clothing, chemicals, and seafood.
Chemical exports fell from $537 million to $333 million, a 38% decrease.
SOURCE – NDTV PROFIT
