New Delhi, Jan 15 (NationPress) In a remarkable achievement, India's merchandise exports surged to $38.51 billion in December, showing an increase from $38.13 billion in November, despite the global market uncertainties stemming from the US tariff challenges and geopolitical tensions, as reported by the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.

The statistics indicated that December's services exports were projected at $35.50 billion, with imports at $17.38 billion, leading to a services trade surplus of $18.12 billion.

On the other hand, merchandise imports climbed to $63.55 billion from $62.66 billion, resulting in a slight increase in the merchandise trade deficit to $25.04 billion.

Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal noted that India’s total exports have grown by 4.33% in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, with an expectation that total exports for FY26 will reach the $850 billion milestone.

Additionally, India's exports to the US rose by 9.8% during the April-December period of FY26 compared to the prior year.

To diversify its exports, India is establishing new trade partnerships with friendly nations and is actively engaging in discussions with the US to address the tariff deadlock.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal recently highlighted the ongoing trade discussions with the EU in Brussels and the initiation of the Export Promotion Mission as notable developments from his Ministry in the past week.

“We had a fruitful discussion with the European Union Trade and Economic Security Commissioner, Mr. Maros Sefcovic, in Brussels, focusing on the proposed India-EU Free Trade Agreement. We stressed the necessity of finalizing a fair, balanced, and ambitious agreement that reflects our mutual values and economic priorities within a rules-based trading framework,” the minister stated.

He also mentioned his visit to Liechtenstein to review the implementation of the India–EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement.

Furthermore, to kickstart the Export Promotion Mission, two significant initiatives under the NIRYAT PROTSAHAN sub-scheme have been launched aimed at enhancing MSME exports and facilitating access to trade finance. These initiatives are designed to reduce export costs for MSMEs, improve cash flow and liquidity, motivate them to explore new export markets, provide easier access to bank loans without heavy collateral requirements, and ultimately stimulate export growth, particularly among smaller enterprises.