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India’s trade gap widened last month, as the Middle East conflict inflated import costs.
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The gap between exports and imports stood at $28.38 billion in April, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed Friday. That’s higher than the $25.97 billion deficit forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey. The gap had narrowed to $20.6 billion in March.
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A wider deficit will put further pressure on the currency that is Asia’s worst performer so far in 2026. The rupee fell to a record low, dropping below 96 to a dollar after the data.
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Inbound shipments rose 10% in April to $71.94 billion from a year earlier, while outbound shipments stood at $43.56 billion, up 13.8%. Oil imports rose to $18.62 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations, compared with $12.18 billion in March, while gold imports stood at $5.63 billion.
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India is the world’s third-largest importer of oil and heavily reliant on energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway effectively blocked for more than two month because of the Iran War.
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India’s crude oil basket, a representation of its imports, averaged more than $114 a barrel last month, according to government data. That’s 61% more expensive than the average cost in the previous financial year.
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To shield the economy, the government has announced emergency steps, including raising retail fuel prices for the first time in four years and tightening gold imports to check foreign-exchange outflows and support the rupee. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday also urged citizens to cut fuel usage and forgo gold purchases for a year.
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The duty hike on gold will help reduce the consumption of the yellow metal, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal told reporters in New Delhi. The government is also engaged with industry to resolve issues that the exporters are facing, he said.
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(Updates with a chart and rupee reaction in third paragraph.)
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