New Delhi: India’s April-July imports from Russia this year fell by nearly 10 percent compared to the same period last year, whereas its April-July imports from the US this year grew by roughly 12 percent amid the redrawing of global trading rules by United States President Donald Trump.
Notwithstanding a baseline tariff of 10 percent imposed on Indian goods by Trump in April this year, India’s April-July exports to the US grew by 21 percent this year from last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s provisional data, published last week.
On the other hand, India-Russia trade, which has increasingly come under fire by the Trump administration, has decreased, from $24.03 billion in April-July last year to $21.61 billion in the same quarter this year. Crude oil and petroleum products are Russia’s key exports to India, with exports to India amounting to $56 billion last year.
The provisional data does not indicate the country-wise import basket for this year. A look at the data from last year, however, reveals that roughly 89 percent of all Russian imports—worth $21.61 billion—in the April-July 2024 quarter were in mineral fuels and crude oil.
Russia was not always India’s largest supplier of crude oil. The G7 imposed a price cap on the sale of Russian crude oil in 2022. The move brought the cost of a barrel of Russian crude oil down to $60, which other countries found attractive and cheap.
India has maintained that it will continue to decide on its energy purchases, keeping the larger national interests in view.
The Trump administration, in the past week, targeted India over its oil purchases from Russia. As a “penalty”, the US President, on 6 August, imposed an additional 25 percent levy on Indian exports to the US. The total tariff that India will pay for its imports to the US by the end of August is likely to exceed 50 per cent in some sectors.
Officials in the US, including the President, have accused India of funding Moscow’s war machine in Ukraine through the continued purchase of crude oil from Russia. The war between Russia and Ukraine is now inching towards its fourth year, and has come into focus for Trump.
India rejected the US assertion and emphasised that Washington, DC, and the European Union (EU) continue trade, including in the critical sectors, with Russia. China and Türkiye are other countries maintaining strong trade ties with Moscow, but the US did not impose additional tariffs on them.
Trump promised to end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of assuming power on his election campaign trail last year, but a ceasefire deal has also not materialised so far. A partial ceasefire that President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine verbally agreed upon on individual calls with Trump also turned out to be a dead end.
Trump met with Putin 15 August in Alaska—the first meeting between the American leader and the Russian President in four years. Zelenskyy, along with several European officials, will travel to the US for a meeting with Trump Monday, when the two will focus on Putin’s demands for a peace deal with Ukraine.
The Trump administration is pushing India to increase purchases of crude oil from the US. Last year, India purchased roughly $12 billion worth of crude oil from the US. Trump is additionally frustrated with the stalled mini-trade negotiations with New Delhi, as well as India’s unwillingness to open its sensitive sectors, agriculture and dairy, to American exports.
India is willing to make certain concessions in the agricultural and dairy sectors. However, it started negotiations with reduced tariff rates across different sectors, its very aim. The US could sign deals with Vietnam and organisations such as the European Union, eliminating tariffs for the export of American industrial goods to their markets.
The next round of trade negotiations between India and the US, expected later this month in New Delhi, is likely to be rescheduled for a later date.
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India’s high exports to the US
India’s April-July exports to America increased by 21.64 percent this year from last year. In 2024, India exported goods worth $27.5 billion to the US between April and July, with its exports in the same quarter this year increasing to $33.53 billion. The US is the largest market for Indian exports.
In the 2024-2025 financial year, India exported roughly $86 billion worth of goods to the US, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Its second-largest market, the United Arab Emirates, received $36.6 billion worth of Indian goods for the period.
Key Indian exports to the US are smartphones, gems and jewellery, and pharmaceuticals. Its electronic exports to the US stood at roughly $15 billion last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
With the initial tariff of 25 percent already in effect, the additional levy—another 25 per cent—on India for its Russian oil purchases will likely take effect from the end of August.
In India, the tariffs will impact several sectors, including gems and jewellery, as well as textiles and apparel. In the past financial year, gems and jewellery exports were worth $9.9 billion, whereas textiles were $6 billion. These are particular sectors that face American tariffs.
Indian exports in the April-July quarter this year increased by three percent from those in the same quarter last year, reaching $149.2 billion.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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