India's total exports rise 6 per cent to all-time high of $824.9 billion: RBI

New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) India's total exports have touched an all-time high of $824.9 billion in the financial year 2024–25, as per the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India which includes the services trade for March 2025.

This marks a growth of 6.01 per cent over the previous year’s export figure of $778.1 billion.

Services exports continued to drive the growth momentum, reaching a historic high of $387.5 billion in 2024–25, up 13.6 per cent from $341.1 billion in the previous year. For March 2025, services exports stood at $35.6 billion, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 18.6 per cent compared to $30.0 billion in March 2024, the latest RBI figures show.

In 2024–25, merchandise exports excluding petroleum products rose to a record $374.1 billion, registering a 6 per cent increase from $352.9 billion in 2023–24 — the highest ever annual non-petroleum merchandise exports.

Earlier figures released by the Commerce Ministry on April 15 estimated that India’s total exports of goods and services increased by 5.5 per cent to a record $820.93 billion during the financial year ended March 31, 2025.

However, the actual figures for services exports had not been compiled by the RBI at the time and an extrapolated estimate was used to calculate the exports. With the real figures now coming in, the total value has gone up.

Meanwhile, going ahead while the hike in US tariffs announced by President Donald Trump is expected to hit world trade, India and the US are at an advanced stage of reaching a bilateral trade agreement soon.

As part of ongoing discussions, representatives of India’s Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative held fruitful discussions, at a meeting in Washington, from April 23-25, to conclude the first tranche of the Bilateral Trade Agreement by Fall (Sept-Oct) of 2025.

This follows earlier bilateral discussions held in March 2025 in New Delhi.

"During the meetings in Washington, D.C., the team had fruitful discussions on wide-ranging subjects covering tariff and non-tariff matters. The team discussed the pathway for concluding the first tranche of the mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement by Fall of 2025, including through opportunities for early mutual wins," the statement said.

While productive sectoral expert-level engagements have taken place through the virtual format, in-person sectoral engagements are planned from the end of May, according to an official statement.

.--IANS

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