India-U.K. Merchandise Trade

The total merchandise trade between India and the U.K. has shown a steady growth pattern over the years, reaching $19.3 billion in the fiscal year 2024-25 up to January 2025. However, the growth rate of imports has significantly outpaced that of exports.

Export Concentration

• The U.K. is currently India's sixth largest engineering export destination.
• Trade between the two countries is highly concentrated in a few sectors
• Major product categories for exports include: 
  1. Electrical machinery (15.3%)
  2. Nuclear reactors, boilers & machinery (11.6%)
  3. Mineral fuels and oils (9.1%)
  4. Pearls, precious & semi-precious stones (7%)
  5. Pharma products (5.4%)
• These categories make up nearly half of India's exports to the U.K.
• The category of machinery and engineering goods is poised for substantial growth following the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the U.K.

Import Concentration

• India's imports from the U.K. are even more concentrated, with the top five product categories accounting for 65% of total imports.
• Leading import categories include: 
  1. Pearls, precious & semi-precious stones (30.5%)
  2. Nuclear reactors, boilers & machinery (17.4%)
  3. Electrical machinery (7.2%)
  4. Iron and steel (5%)
  5. Aluminium and its articles (4.5%)

Trade Growth Over the Years

India's total trade with the U.K. was $12.2 billion in 2016-17, with exports at $8.5 billion and imports at $3.7 billion.

• Total trade has increased nearly 60% by 2024-25.
• Exports grew by 41% to reach $12 billion.
• Imports increased by nearly 100% to $7.3 billion.

Future Projections

With the FTA in place, engineering exports to the U.K. are expected to nearly double over the next five years, reaching approximately $7.55 billion by 2029-30.