India Trade Database — Top 20 Imports & Exports · US→India Scrap Trade Playbook

§1

FY 2025-26 headline dashboard

April 2025 – March 2026 was a record year for India's outward trade. March 2026 recorded the highest single-month exports ever at $38.92B.

Full-year FY 2025-26

Merchandise exports $441.78B (+0.98%)
Merchandise imports $774.98B (+7.44%)
Deficit –$333.20B
Services exports ~$418.31B (+7.9%)
Combined exports $860.09B (+4.22%)

March 2026 (record month)

Total exports $38.92B — highest monthly ever
To USA $5.93B · To China $2.32B · To UAE $2.30B
Imports $59.9B (–5.98% YoY)
Monthly deficit $20.98B

India's global standing (CY2024)

Indicator	Value
Merchandise exports, global rank	18th
Merchandise imports, global rank	9th
Services exports, global rank	8th (4.3% share, $374B in CY24)
Digitally-delivered services exports	5th global ($269B)
Trade openness (exports + imports / GDP)	44.59

Annual totals from Ministry of Commerce / PIB (Apr 2026); global ranks from WTO trade profile (May 2025).

§2

India's top 20 exports

Ranks 1–10 — FY 2025-26 principal commodities

#	Commodity	HS	USD Bn	Share	YoY	Top destinations	Scrap
1	Engineering Goods	84-87,72,73,76,90	$122.52	27.7%	+4.9%	USA ~16%, UAE #2, EU ~18%	Med
2	Petroleum Products	27 (2710)	$53.77	12.2%	—	UAE, NL, Singapore, USA, UK	Med
3	Electronic Goods	85	$47.99	10.9%	+52% (CY25)	USA ~52% of phone exports, UAE, NL	Low
4	Drugs & Pharmaceuticals	30	$31.13	7.1%	—	USA, UK, S. Africa, Brazil, EU	Low
5	Organic & Inorganic Chemicals	28-29, 38	$28.70	6.5%	—	USA, China, Germany, Brazil	Low
6	Gems & Jewellery	71 (7108, 7113)	$28.20	6.4%	—	USA, UAE, HK, Belgium, Israel	Low
7	RMG of all Textiles	61-62	$15.77	3.6%	—	USA, UK, UAE, EU	Low
8	Cotton Yarn / Fabs. / Made-ups	52 (55-60)	$11.59	2.6%	—	Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, USA	Low
9	Rice	1006	$11.55	2.6%	—	Saudi, Iran, Iraq, UAE, Africa	Low
10	Marine Products	03, 1603-1605	$8.43	1.9%	—	USA, China, Japan, EU, SE Asia	Low

Top-10 = ~$359.7B = 81.4% of all merchandise exports. Engineering goods cross-validated with EEPC: $122.43B (vs $116.75B FY25, +4.86%).

Ranks 11–20 — CY 2024 HS-2 groups (DGCI&S)

#	HS	Commodity	USD Bn	Share	YoY	Scrap
11	62	Articles of apparel, not knit	$8.20	1.9%	+4.6%	None
12	39	Plastics and articles thereof	$8.11	1.8%	+14.0%	High
13	61	Articles of apparel, knit	$7.52	1.7%	+12.9%	None
14	76	Aluminium and articles thereof	$7.44	1.7%	+1.4%	High
15	88	Aircraft, spacecraft, parts	$7.43	1.7%	+284%	None
16	38	Misc. chemical products	$6.86	1.6%	+3.3%	None
17	52	Cotton	$6.55	1.5%	+0.8%	None
18	3	Fish, crustaceans, aquatic spp.	$6.14	1.4%	–2.6%	None
19	63	Other made textile articles	$6.04	1.4%	+12.1%	None
20	9	Coffee, tea, mate and spices	$5.32	1.2%	+22.3%	None

CY2024 total exports: $442.71B (+2.63% vs CY2023). Green = positive growth, red = negative.

§3

India's top 20 imports

Ranks 1–10 — FY 2025-26 principal commodities

#	Commodity	HS	USD Bn	Share	Top sources	Scrap
1	Petroleum, Crude & Products	27	$173.48	22.4%	Russia, Iraq, Saudi, UAE, USA	Med
2	Electronic Goods	85	$94.45	12.2%	China (dominant), Vietnam, Taiwan	Low
3	Machinery, Electrical & Non-Electrical	84-85	$61.79	8.0%	China, USA, Germany, Japan, Italy	Med
4	Gold	7108	$55.41	7.2%	UAE, Switzerland	Low
5	Transport Equipment	86-89 (87)	$32.77	4.2%	China, Germany, Japan, USA, Korea	Low
6	Coal, Coke & Briquettes	2701-2704	$29.71	3.8%	Indonesia, Australia, Russia	Low
7	Organic & Inorganic Chemicals	28-29	$27.87	3.6%	China, USA, Singapore, Germany	Low
8	Non-ferrous Metals	74-76, 78-81	$24.36	3.1%	China, UAE, Japan, Korea, USA	High
9	Artificial Resins & Plastic Materials	39	$21.52	2.8%	China, Korea, UAE, Saudi, USA	High
10	Pearls, Precious & Semi-Precious Stones	7101-7107	$21.45	2.8%	UAE, Switzerland, Belgium, HK	Low

Top-10 = ~$542.8B = 70.0% of all merchandise imports. Petroleum >22% of the entire import bill.

Ranks 11–20 — CY 2024 HS-2 groups (DGCI&S)

#	HS	Commodity	USD Bn	Share	YoY	Scrap
11	74	Copper and articles thereof	$10.50	1.5%	+15.7%	High
12	28	Inorganic chemicals	$9.75	1.4%	–2.3%	None
13	87	Vehicles (non-rail)	$7.91	1.1%	+3.0%	None
14	31	Fertilizers	$7.80	1.1%	–25.2%	None
15	38	Misc. chemical products	$7.78	1.1%	+2.3%	None
16	76	Aluminium and articles thereof	$7.71	1.1%	+12.2%	High
17	26	Ores, slag and ash	$6.90	1.0%	+17.3%	High
18	7	Edible vegetables, roots, tubers	$5.18	0.7%	+64.9%	None
19	73	Articles of iron or steel	$5.16	0.7%	+2.6%	High
20	89	Ships, boats, floating structures	$4.73	0.7%	+28.4%	High

CY2024 total imports: $718.16B (+6.60% vs CY2023).

§4

India's top-20 trade partners (CY 2024, DGCI&S)

Export destinations

#	Country	USD Bn	Share	YoY
1	USA	$80.77	18.3%	+6.8%
2	UAE	$37.79	8.5%	+14.5%
3	Netherlands	$24.84	5.6%	+7.5%
4	Singapore	$15.89	3.6%	+32.1%
5	China PRP	$15.14	3.4%	–6.7%
6	UK	$14.30	3.2%	+15.1%
7	Saudi Arabia	$12.29	2.8%	+13.4%
8	Bangladesh	$11.48	2.6%	+2.0%
9	Germany	$10.42	2.4%	+7.8%
10	Italy	$8.47	1.9%	+0.8%
11	South Africa	$8.26	1.9%	+3.0%
12	Malaysia	$8.14	1.8%	+22.0%
13	France	$7.91	1.8%	+11.1%
14	Australia	$7.86	1.8%	+1.8%
15	Nepal	$7.11	1.6%	–2.0%
16	Belgium	$6.67	1.5%	–16.3%
17	Hong Kong	$6.61	1.5%	–24.2%
18	Brazil	$6.55	1.5%	–1.8%
19	Korea RP	$5.97	1.3%	–5.1%
20	Japan	$5.83	1.3%	+14.8%

Top-20 = ~$343.9B = 77.7% of all CY24 exports. USA = #1 four straight years.

Import sources

#	Country	USD Bn	Share	YoY
1	China PRP	$109.36	15.2%	+9.8%
2	Russia	$65.73	9.2%	+8.5%
3	UAE	$61.02	8.5%	+34.1%
4	USA	$44.42	6.2%	+0.0%
5	Saudi Arabia	$30.77	4.3%	–8.5%
6	Iraq	$30.34	4.2%	+3.9%
7	Switzerland	$25.17	3.5%	+28.0%
8	Indonesia	$23.83	3.3%	+5.3%
9	Korea RP	$20.94	2.9%	–2.0%
10	Singapore	$20.55	2.9%	–4.5%
11	Hong Kong	$19.66	2.7%	+0.6%
12	Japan	$18.89	2.6%	+7.9%
13	Germany	$17.80	2.5%	+1.0%
14	Australia	$15.77	2.2%	–4.2%
15	Qatar	$12.69	1.8%	–0.4%
16	Malaysia	$12.50	1.7%	–0.0%
17	Thailand	$11.63	1.6%	+14.1%
18	South Africa	$10.91	1.5%	+6.3%
19	Taiwan	$10.67	1.5%	+35.0%
20	Vietnam	$10.19	1.4%	+11.8%

Top-20 = ~$572.4B = 79.7% of all CY24 imports. China > Russia > UAE > USA.

§5

Scrap-business relevance

The reason we built this database: find the lanes where US scrap earns a margin in India.

Material	HS codes	CY24 imports	CY24 YoY	BCD	Duty-free window
Ferrous scrap	7204, 73	~$10.9B	+2.6%	nil (7204) / 7.5% (73)	7204 nil to 31 Mar 2028
Copper scrap	7404	$10.5B (basket)	+15.7%	2.5% + SWS 10% of BCD	—
Aluminium scrap	7602	$7.7B (basket)	+12.2%	2.5% + SWS 10% of BCD	—
Plastic scrap	3915	$21.5B (basket)	+14.0%	2.5%	—
Lead & Zinc scrap	7802, 7902	within non-ferrous	—	nil	nil (Budget 2026)
Ores, slag & ash	2619, 2620	$6.9B	+17.3%	—	metal recovery
Ships (breaker feedstock)	89	$4.7B	+28.4%	—	Alang re-rolled steel

Key insight: India's non-ferrous metal imports (HS-74 + HS-76) total ~$18.2B in CY24 and grow 8–15% YoY; the nil-duty window on HS-7204 ferrous scrap runs to 31 Mar 2028 — a time-limited arbitrage for US exporters. SWS (10% of BCD) applies on non-ferrous; IGST 18% is fully recoverable by GST-registered Indian buyers. See the playbook for the full 11-stage trade mechanics.

§6

Methodology & sources

India does not publish a single clean top-20 table for imports and exports. We bridge two official sources:

Ranks 1–10 (FY 2025-26): Ministry of Commerce principal-commodity ranking via PIB release (Apr 2026) / News18 compilation. Values in Rs crore converted at average FY26 rates (exports Rs 88.37/USD, imports Rs 88.39/USD, derived from official totals).
Ranks 11–20 (CY 2024): DGCI&S "A Quick View of India's Trade Scenario" (Aug 2025) — HS-2 (2-digit) customs groups, official USD values.
Overlap note: some CY24 HS groups nest inside FY26 principal commodities (e.g. HS-61+HS-62 = FY26 #7 RMG). The CSV notes column flags these.
Scrap flags: High = ferrous/non-ferrous/plastic/ores/ship HS groups directly mapped to our trade; Medium = broad engineering/petroleum categories; Low/None = no scrap relevance.

PDFDGCI&S Quick View of India's Trade Scenario, Aug 2025
NEWSNews18 — Top 10 imports & exports of India in FY26
GOVPIB / Ministry of Commerce — FY 2025-26 annual trade statement (Apr 2026)
EEPCEngineering Export Promotion Council — FY26 engineering goods $122.43B
WTOWTO trade profile May 2025 — global ranks, trade openness 44.59
CUSTCBIC customs tariff FY2026 — BCD rates for HS-7204 (nil to Mar 2028), 7404, 7602, 7802, 7902, 3915

Source documents and full methodology are recorded in plan/india-trade-database.md. Machine data regenerable with python scripts/make_trade_db.py.