India's February merchandise trade deficit narrows to its lowest in over 3 years

By Manoj Kumar and Shubham Batra

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India's merchandise trade deficit in February narrowed sharply to $14.05 billion, the lowest level in more than three years, as imports fell amid rising global uncertainty.

The deficit was much lower than economists' forecast of $21.65 billion, according to a Reuters poll.

February's merchandise exports stood at $36.91 billion against $36.43 billion in January, while imports were lower at $50.96 billion compared with $59.42 billion in the month prior.

February imports were the lowest since April 2023 and the trade deficit was lower than the latest figure in August 2021.

"These are quick estimates. We are looking into the details of (the) fall in imports," trade official Satya Srinivas told reporters.

In February, India's gold imports slipped to $2.3 billion from the previous month's $2.68 billion, while crude oil imports dropped to $11.8 billion from $13.4 billion in January, data showed.

Services exports in February were estimated at $35.03 billion and imports at $16.55 billion, against $38.55 billion and $18.22 billion, respectively, in January.

The data comes at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has upended the globe with his widening tariff policy. India is trying to strike a bilateral trade pact with the U.S. to avoid the wrath of its reciprocal tariff likely to be implemented from April 2.

"India is proactively engaged with the U.S. to address concerns of both countries and expand trade to $500 billion," India's Trade Secretary Sunil Barthwal said.

(Reporting by Shubham Batra and Manoj Kumar; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)