Exim data for FY26 likely by mid-April

Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal on Saturday said a clear picture how the West Asia crisis has impacted India’s exports as well as imports will emerge once the trade data is available around mid-April.

Both “merchandise exports and services exports have been growing well and we hope to end the year in a positive territory,” the senior official said here on Saturday.

By April 15th the data should be available, he said, adding oil imports by volume are likely to be less and more in value terms as the price of the commodity has gone up since the war began.

India’s exports to West Asia, which is an important market, is also bound to be less. “Around 12-13% of our exports are to the Middle East, so that will directly get impacted,” Mr.Agrawal said.

If the crisis prolongs, India’s exports to other parts of the world will also come under strain in the wake of the value chains getting impacted. “We are cognizant… trying to see that the supply chains get minimum impact,” he said to a query on whether the export targets for FY2026 will be achieved.

“The targets are kept to nudge the industry, our ecosystem, to move towards a broad ballpark, but all of us understand trade is not a one-way track,” the Commerce Secretary said, seeking to highlight how external environment impact export-import trade.