New Delhi: India’s oil purchases from the US in the current financial year increased 40-50 percent, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal said Thursday. Despite American tariff pressures, Indian merchandise exports remained resilient, he added.
“US exports have been holding on well. We remain in positive territory, and the key reason is electronic goods, as these are not under tariff at the moment,” Agarwal said, briefing the media on India’s overall trade situation in the last month. “Our growth in purchase of oil from the US is around 40 to 50 percent in the first nine months [April-December 2025].”
Agarwal added, “Trade negotiations with the US have never broken down. There was a virtual meeting between Minister [Piyush Goyal] and US Trade Representative [Jamieson Greer] in the last week of December. I believe that the negotiations are ongoing and the coordinating teams are talking virtually. It is very near, but I cannot put a deadline.”
US President Donald Trump has been urging India to buy more American oil since returning to the White House in January 2025. Trump has taken specific exception to India’s high purchases of crude from Russia, imposing a penalty tariff of 25 percent in August 2025. Indian exporters face some of the highest US tariffs—50 percent.
Published by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the data shows a 12.85 percent spike in Indian imports from the US for April-December 2025, compared to the same period the previous year. While sector-wise data for the full nine months of this financial year from countries is unavailable currently, data for the first seven months of the current fiscal shows a 61 percent increase in India’s oil purchases from the US. India’s imports of petroleum oils (HS Code: 2709) between April and October 2025 stood at $6.197 billion. For the same period in the previous year India’s imports of American oil was $3.836 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. India imported $6.5 billion worth of petroleum oil from the US in the previous financial year (2024-2025).
India’s purchase of US oil increased 30.34 percent from the financial year 2023-2024 to 2024-2025. The Trump administration has pushed back on India’s trade surplus. India’s trade surplus for the last financial year was $40.8 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
At the same time, India’s purchase of Russian crude has dipped. Russia remains the third-largest source of merchandise goods for the Indian market. However, India imported only $44.98 billion worth of goods from Russia in the first nine months of this fiscal year—roughly $5 billion less than the same period in the previous year.
The purchase of crude primarily drives India’s trade with Russia. However, the US sanctioned two of the largest Russian oil firms, Rosneft and Lukoil, at the end of 2025, further impacting the import of crude from Moscow. Russia remains one of the largest suppliers of crude oil to India—albeit sending lesser amounts than the preceding year, when import figures reached $56 billion—a record year for bilateral trade between the two countries.
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Merchandise trade with the US positive
In the first nine months of the current financial year, India’s total merchandise trade with the US remained in the positive territory. The trade surplus was at $26.4 billion for this time period.
Despite Trump’s tariffs, India’s exports maintained a strong momentum—60 percent of New Delhi’s total merchandise exports were to the US.
India’s overall merchandise exports for the first nine months of the current financial year were $65.87 billion, showing a 9.75 percent increase year-on-year. In the first nine months of 2024-2025, Indian exporters clocked in $60 billion worth of exports to the US.
On Thursday, the Indian Commerce Secretary highlighted the positive exports to the US, attributing the same to a spike in electronic goods exports—specifically, smartphones.
The first nine months of the current year saw a 200 percent increase in smartphone exports to the US. US tariffs have not hit smartphones and electronic goods.
Between April and November 2025, India’s total smartphone exports stood at $18.8 billion—a 44 percent year-on-year increase. During the same period in 2024-2025, it stood at $13.08 billion.
Electronic goods exporters are hoping to cross $50 billion in exports across different merchandise categories this financial year, according to Agarwal.
India’s month-on-month exports to the US have stabilised at figures similar to those of the previous year, after the imposition of tariffs by President Trump. India’smerchandise exports sharply dropped in September and October 2025—the first couple of months after the 50 percent tariffs took effect.
However, at $6.98-$5.7 billion, India’s exports in November 2025 outperformed in the same period the year before. In December 2025, India’s overall merchandise exports to the US—$6.89 billion in worth—were 1.83 percent lower than the previous December’s.
India’s merchandise imports from the US grew as well during the current fiscal. Its total imports between April and December 2025 is $39.4 billion, up from $34.9 billion during the same period in 2024. India’s increase of merchandise imports from the US in a large part is due to the increase of overall energy products from the North American nation.
Indian exports see record growth
India’s overall exports, including merchandise and services, saw three record quarters between April and December 2025. Each quarter saw exports rise till it had reached $200 billion. The overall figure was $634.26 billion by the end of December 2025.
In the 2024-2025 financial year—for example—three quarters showed overall exports crossing $200 billion, but cumulatively less than the current fiscal year. In the last financial year, India’s cumulative exports stood at $607.93 billion.
Commerce Secretary Agarwal stressed that India’s cumulative exports might reach $850 billion this year. Merchandise exports might touch $450 billion, and services exports $400 billion.
India’s service exports between April and December 2025 have grown by 6.46 percent since the same period last year—from $285.5 billion to $303.9 billion. India’s overall merchandise exports for the first nine months of the year grew by around 2.44 percent in comparison to the previous year, from $322.41 billion to $330.29 billion.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)