India’s foreign trade is expected to have crossed $1.6 trillion during the just-concluded financial year despite global economic uncertainties, economic think-tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) has said in a report. GTRI has added $1.6 trillion would be about 48 per cent of India’s nominal GDP of $3.4 trillion for the financial year ended March 2023. 

The higher trade-to-GDP ratio speaks of high trade openness which the country practices, GTRI co-founder Ajay Srivastava has said. 

According to their analysis of the data by the think-tank, the growth rate in the exports of services would be higher those of goods. 

Higher growth rate in services exports compared to the outbound shipments of goods has improved overall performance of India’s exports, he adds. 

India’s overall exports of goods and services during April-March 2023 are estimated to have reached $755 billion, exhibiting positive growth of 11.6 per cent over the same period last year (April-March 2022). 

The report has said that India’s merchandise exports during FY23 are likely to have increased by about 5 per cent to $442 billion. Similarly, services exports are estimated to have grown by 22.6 per cent to $311.9 billion in 2022-23. 

“India’s foreign trade (exports and imports of merchandise and services) is estimated to have crossed $1.6 trillion or 48 per cent of India’s nominal GDP of $3.4 trillion for the financial year ended March 2023,” it has added. In 2021-22, India’s foreign trade had stood at $1.43 trillion.